Property tax assessments on the way

Kootenai County property tax assessments are in the mail, and while property values have increased on average, the rise is nowhere near as extreme as last year’s assessments. That’s why officials expect appeals to fall.

“Last year was our watershed year in terms of what we saw for value change,” said Mike McDowell, Kootenai County assessor. Property values in the county increased by 40 percent last year.

The overall increase this year is 13 percent, McDowell said, a figure that includes new construction, existing homes and land. Residential land values have appreciated about 10 percent, he said.

Also this year, “we’re going to see modest changes in waterfront values,” McDowell said.

Waterfront home values increased an average of 40 percent last year in Kootenai County, while waterfront land values in some cases doubled. McDowell said it’s not possible yet to say what those figures will be this year.

Higher property assessments don’t result in higher total tax collections. However, valuation increases result in higher tax bills for property that rose at rates higher than average.

In February, Kootenai County commission Chairman Rick Currie announced that hundreds of new homes were not on the tax rolls. The oversight occurred because of an Idaho law that exempts builders from paying property taxes on new homes until they are sold or occupied.

McDowell said the assessor’s office is doing everything it can to make sure those properties are accounted for.

The office tries to get assessments out soon after Memorial Day, but is still adjusting to a new software system.

Property owners have a little less than three weeks to file appeals to the assessor’s office. Appeals will be accepted until 5 p.m. June 25.