Grant County assessor discusses assessments

MOSES LAKE - Grant County Assessor Laure Grammer continues to require her appraisers to contact property owners about their assessment appeals. 

It is so appraisers can determine if they've made an error and correct it before going to the Board of Equalization, she explained.

"In reality we receive many times more appeals that are later canceled because we have been able to show the property owner the reason for their value or we have completed a correction that modified their value and they no longer feel the need to go forward with their appeal," she stated.

She asks the public to contact her office before filing appeals to lower property assessments and give county appraisers an opportunity to review property.

If assessors do not have the necessary information that supports their opinion of value, they change the assessment, she explained.

She does not plan on attending Saturday open house events for residents at Gary Mann Real Estate or Coldwell Banker Tomlinson, as she doesn't think it would be proper for her to be there.

"The public knows where I am and how to get in touch we me," she stated.

Last year was the first year Grant County assessors completed annual assessments.

Before 2010, Grant County valued all property once every four years by inspecting an individual parcel once in four years and the value assessors determined held for four years, she explained.

The law doesn't allow assessors to change values except the cases of building permits, destroyed property or a error.

"This is why it is so important that property owners notify us if they do not agree with their value," she commented. "Or, they can file an appeal of value to the local (Board of Equalization) and we will contact them."

Excluding new construction, Grant County's property values decreased in 2010, as compared to 2009, by $563 million.

A property tax assessment or rate comes from dividing the total amount of money that is required by the total number of parcels within a district's service area, she explained.

"It only stands to reason that if the value of a district increases, the levy rate will drop," she stated.

For more information, contact the Grant County Assessor's Office at 509-754-2011, ex. 310.