Many Landowners Hazy About Fire Protection Tax

Fri., Feb. 13, 1998

By Dan Hansen danh@spokesman.com

(From For the Record, February 14, 1998): Story wrong: The Washington Department of Natural Resources levies a Fire Protection Assessment in areas prone to wildfires, regardless of whether the land is in a fire district. A story on the regional page of Friday’s Spokesman-Review said otherwise.

Thousands of rural Washington landowners are paying property taxes they shouldn’t have to pay.

And while the owners of more than 4,000 parcels of land sought and received refunds last year, perhaps that many more don’t know to ask - or don’t bother asking - for the money back.

The tax - $14.91 for state Department of Natural Resources fire protection - is due only once each year from each landowner in an area that isn’t served with local fire protection.

But the way the Legislature wrote the law, it must be collected for each parcel of land.

People who have more than one parcel must pay each assessment. Then, they can apply for a refund for all but one parcel, a process that requires filling out forms and waiting about four weeks for a check.

The process has been in place for years but was greatly expanded in 1993, when the Legislature authorized the DNR to begin collecting the fee from parcels smaller than 20 acres. That expansion was a response to the growing number of people making homes in forests and the growing fire danger that accompanied the back-to-the-woods trend.

The system of forcing payment, then offering refunds, “is widely viewed as unfair. It is inefficient and causing great harm to good will toward DNR,” a consultant hired by the agency concluded in a January report to the Legislature.

Still, no bills have been introduced this year to correct the problem, said a staff member for the House Natural Resources Committee.

DNR officials say they know of no practical way of assessing landowners rather than by parcels. The fact that computer systems used for assessing taxes are different in nearly every county only

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: A REFUND? You may be eligible for a refund of the state Fire Protection Assessment if you live in an unprotected rural area and have more than one parcel of land. Here’s how to get it: First, check your real estate tax statement from the county to confirm that you paid the tax on each parcel. Then get a refund form from the county offices of the treasurer or assessor, or call the state Department of Natural Resources at (800) 527-3305. After paying the year’s property taxes, complete the form and mail or hand-deliver it to the county treasurer. (Or save time and the cost of a stamp by attaching the refund form to the check for your second-half property taxes.) The treasurer will forward the request to the DNR. (Taxpayers cannot send the forms directly to the DNR because the information must be confirmed by the treasurer.) Refunds take at least four weeks and are accompanied by a refund form the taxpayer can use the following year.

This sidebar appeared with the story: A REFUND? You may be eligible for a refund of the state Fire Protection Assessment if you live in an unprotected rural area and have more than one parcel of land. Here’s how to get it: First, check your real estate tax statement from the county to confirm that you paid the tax on each parcel. Then get a refund form from the county offices of the treasurer or assessor, or call the state Department of Natural Resources at (800) 527-3305. After paying the year’s property taxes, complete the form and mail or hand-deliver it to the county treasurer. (Or save time and the cost of a stamp by attaching the refund form to the check for your second-half property taxes.) The treasurer will forward the request to the DNR. (Taxpayers cannot send the forms directly to the DNR because the information must be confirmed by the treasurer.) Refunds take at least four weeks and are accompanied by a refund form the taxpayer can use the following year.