Grant County's property values reflect growth
Property assessed every four years
GRANT COUNTY - Grant County's property values for homes increased by an average of 17 percent from 2007, the Grant County Assessor's Office announced.
Assessor Laure Grammer said the county experienced similar types of increases last year.
But national coverage of the housing market has led some people to believe the market is declining locally.
Grant County's assessed value increased from nearly $2 billion over the past two years, from $4.9 billion to $6.8 billion.
Property in Grant County is assessed every four years, so "your sticker shock is over four years of growth," Grammer said.
"There's nothing really unique this year," she explained.
The information countywide is parroting what area realtors recently reported with some property values increasing, she affirmed.
Except the county's figures reflect values countywide, while numbers gleaned from the Multiple Listing Service only show properties sold through realtors, Chief Deputy Assessor Barry Moos said.
The good news is increased property values drive levy rates down during special funding requests such as levies and bonds, Grammer said.
It's because the funding requests are spread among more people, she explained.
Moos said in his opinion, there hasn't been depreciation with Moses Lake area homes for 45 years.
There's been some market reductions, but not a flattening in value, he added.
"Everyone is listening to the national trend rather than the local trend," Moos said.
Moos said he expected appreciation to level off back in 1995, as 17 percent per year is pretty dramatic. But he's still waiting, he noted.
"That's not telling me the market is on a decline," Moos said.
For years, the county was seeing property values increase from 6 percent to 10 percent, he said.
Grammer said the county is seeing the number of sales decrease due to fewer higher end homes being sold.
Some people come to the assessor's office very angry and very hot about their taxes, but on the average there's been a decline in the number of cases appealed, she said.
Moos said maybe one in 15 to 20 complaints advance to be heard before the county's five-member board of equalization.
Grammer said she encouraged people to contact her office if they have a special situation possibly affecting the value of their property.
She said Grant County has 68 taxing districts and is the third most complex in the state because of the high number.
The state wants all of the county's to assess property annually as the constitution states that property taxes need to be uniform among all counties, she said.
The assessor's office requested $350,000 from county commissioners to replace assessment and taxation software and a permitting package for the building and planning departments.
If the money is approved, properties can be assessed annually.
This year, the following areas were assessed in Grant County:
- Moses Lake from lake, east of Broadway Avenue/Pioneer Way
- Knolls Vista
- Vista Village
- Basin Homes
- Crestview areas
- Blocks 70, 701, 71, 72, 73, 74, 741, 75, 76, 78, 79 and 80
- Black Sands east of Road F NE,
- Beverly
- Crescent Bar
- Ephrata Heights
- Grandview Heights
- Greenacres areas of Ephrata, George, Schawana and Trinidad
- All of ranges 22 to 25.
Next year, the following areas will be assessed:
- Moses Lake, east of lake
- South of Wheeler Road
- West of state Route 17
- Lakeview Terrace area
- East-Montlake area
- Garden Heights area
- Kittleson area
- Outside Coulee City city limits
- Grand Coulee area
- Hartline
- Marlin (Krupp)
- Mattawa
- Quincy
- Sunland
- Wilson Creek
- All of ranges 29-30.