Assessor pulls Web site data

Several real estate professionals expressed outrage Tuesday after Spokane County Assessor Ralph Baker ordered much of the data pulled from the county’s most popular Web site.

Until Tuesday, the county’s property database site contained valuation, historical, tax and other information about each piece of land in Spokane County. After the move, only tax information remained.

During an interview Monday afternoon, Baker said he likely would pull the information in light of a story on KREM-TV, which ran Tuesday. A reporter used the county Web site to confirm that at least 12 properties in the county had been left off the tax rolls and hadn’t been taxed.

Baker, who is up for re-election on the November ballot, said other government offices that don’t post much information on the Web “are getting a free pass.”

“I think I need to pull back,” Baker said. “I’ve been too liberal.”

Last month, Baker won a heated GOP primary against Spokane City Councilman Brad Stark. Baker now faces Democrat Judy Personett.

A disclaimer on the Web site after the information was pulled said the information would be removed “until a thorough review” of the site was complete.

“Recent local media criticism of the assessor’s office has highlighted the need to improve the accuracy of our Parcel Information Search database,” the disclaimer said.

Many homeowners use the site to examine values of their property and to compare with nearby parcels to ensure their valuation is reasonable. Title companies and others in real estate use the Web site often throughout the day.

“This has made it very difficult for not just myself but an entire segment of this community,” said JoAnn Marvicsin, who works in the Spokane real estate industry. “Every single one of us are taxpayers and pay his salary. That’s public information.”

Baker expressed dismay that leading efforts to post property information online had opened the office to extra criticism.

“I want to find them (errors) before they’re on the news,” Baker said. “I’m not happy about being raked over the coals in the press.”

He said Monday he wasn’t sure how long the information would be down, but the office would “try to do some innovative and creative analysis of Web data to make sure we clear out some of the holes that are there.” Attempts to reach Baker on Tuesday evening were unsuccessful.

Some real estate professionals said they were upset not only that the information was pulled but that they were given no warning.

“It’s obviously going to pose real inconvenience for both our company and our customers,” said Tracey Olson, a title officer for Pacific Northwest Title. “Every single report that we issue, we access that Web site.”

She said the company could use other databases for much of the missing information, but workers likely will have to supplement them by making calls to the assessor’s office.

Not all Realtors disapproved of the move. After meeting with Baker on Tuesday, Vic Plese, president of the Spokane Association of Realtors, said he was confident that Baker’s intentions are good. Baker told Plese he wants to correct problems and persuade other government offices to release more information on the Web.

“It seems to be a prudent thing right now,” said Plese, who stressed that he was speaking for himself and not the association.

Some said Baker’s decision was an overreaction, noting that while they find occasional problems on the site, they mostly find it accurate.

“That’s going to hinder every Realtor in this town,” said Brian Murray, a Keller Williams real estate agent and former state senator. “We rely on that Web site on a daily basis.”

Deputy Treasurer Bob Wrigley said he found out Monday that the assessor’s office wanted to pull property information. Wrigley said he made sure that at least the tax information remained online, especially because tax bills are due at the end of the month.

Earlier this year after a different TV report highlighted inaccuracies on the site, Baker argued that letting the public access the data online was essential in correcting errors.

“The primary purpose of it was so that citizens could see our data – and I know this is going to sound unusual – and hold me accountable for what’s on there,” Baker said in an August interview. “The object of this job is to be fair, and so who better to help me know that I’ve got the data right on every house than the citizens who live in that house?”