County assessor mails out tax notices

Most Spokane County residents will receive tax assessment notifications in today’s mail.

Look for a postcard, not a letter, unless you own more than one piece of real estate, Assessor Ralph Baker advised.

Baker said his office will save about $20,000 by substituting postcards for letters. “We’ll see how the public takes it, but it seems to be going fine,” he said Friday.

Assessed values are up about 14 percent throughout the county, compared with an increase of approximately 16 percent last year, Baker said.

“I don’t know that you’d even call it a slowdown,” he said. “That’s not much difference.”

The county’s economy remains “vibrant,” with no slowdown in home sales and only a slight reduction in building permits, Baker said.

He speculated that the amount of value added to the county’s tax base will be more like the $779 million added in 2005 than last year’s $1 billion, but he noted this year’s final calculation hadn’t been made. Property values are rising throughout the county, he added.

The increases don’t necessarily mean individual property tax bills will be going up. Assessed values are just one factor in tax bills. Other factors are the amount of government spending and the number of people splitting the tab.

Baker urged residents who want more information about how tax bills are computed to read his Web site at www.spokanecounty.org/assessor. The site has a wealth of information, including advice on how to improve your chances of winning an appeal if you disagree with your assessment, he said.

“It’s that transparency-in-government thing,” Baker said. “We want to make sure you see what we’re doing.”

As a new feature, the site contains almost all the sketches and other information from the now-archived field books that appraisers used in the past to record their observations. Other online information – searchable by address or parcel number – includes current appraisal and tax information for each property as well as a photograph.

For those who don’t receive or who lose their assessment notices, a digital copy is available online. The cards have contact information for the appraisers who handled the property in question, and the Web site adds a direct e-mail link to the appraiser.

Baker said he encourages people who have questions or concerns about their appraisals to get in touch with their appraiser, or with him if the appraiser doesn’t respond within five days.

“The best way is by e-mail because that way we have a written record,” Baker said.