Property tax? statements mailed

COLUMBIA BASIN — Grant and Adams County property owners should have their annual property tax forms.

If a property owner has not received their tax statement, they should contact their local treasurer’s office.

Half of the taxes are due by April 30 and the other half are due by Oct. 31.

In Grant County, payments can be made at the Treasurer’s Office in the Grant County Courthouse or by mail. People paying by mail can send the coupon in the bottom left hand corner with their check to the Grant County Treasurer’s Office at P.O. Box 37, Ephrata, WA 98823. People with more than one parcel can make out more than one check.

Adams County residents can mail their payments to the Adams County Treasurer’s office at 210 W. Broadway, Suite 203, Ritzville, WA 99169 or call the number listed on their tax form.

Adams County Treasurer Laura Danekas said they wouldn’t be able to accept payments in the office.

The form is divided into three forms, one for each period which needs to be paid, she said. If people have delinquent amounts due they will be listed on the form, but the amount may be incorrect depending on how delinquent the payment is. People can check the exact amount on the Web site at ?www.adamswa.taxsister.com/taxsister.

Grant County Treasurer Darryl Pheasant said a lot of county residents’ saw their tax rate go down. One of the largest drops was in Ephrata, which fell $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value. This was driven by a large amount of new property and businesses moving into the area.

Adams County Assessor Dave Anderson said the residential tax rate in the panhandle area of the  county fell, while the rest of the county stayed about the same. The dip was caused by an increase in property taxes for commercial properties.

Anderson explained there taxing districts are limited to a one percent increase in collection each year, so even if the assessed value of a house rose, the amount the taxing districts can collect stays steady.

Grant County property owners are estimated to pay about $88 million in property taxes, compared to $77 million last year, Pheasant said. These include all of the groups taxing property owners, such as schools and the county.

Adams County property owners will pay a total of $17 million to all the groups levying property taxes.

For more information in Grant County, call 509-754-201.

For more information in Adams County, call 509-659-3227.