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Orcutt proposes
comprehensive property tax relief legislation
Bills would
smooth out assessment spikes, fully disclose banked capacity levels
Saying that homeowners are
at their limit when it comes to skyrocketing property taxes,
Rep. Ed Orcutt
today introduced a series of bills aimed at providing protections for
taxpayers.
"The biggest concern I
hear from my constituents is about the rapid increase of their property
taxes. I am proposing legislation which would provide the most effective
means of protecting homeowners against huge property tax increases,"
said Orcutt, R-Kalama.
Orcutt introduced three
measures:
House Joint Resolution 4228,
House Bill 3273, and
House
Bill 3270.
The 18th District lawmaker
explained that HJR 4228 would ask voters in November to amend the state
constitution to allow property tax assessments to be averaged out over
time.
"If a homeowner's assessed
valuation went up by less than 15 percent, or it dropped, the new
assessed value would be based on that percentage. If the assessed
valuation increased between 15 and 60 percent, the increase would be
limited to 15 percent. If the assessed valuation went up by more than 60
percent, this averaging legislation would limit the valuation increase
to 25 percent," explained Orcutt, ranking Republican on the House
Finance Committee. "Over time, as these increases slow, some of the
taxes can be made up. Assessment averaging smoothes it out so homeowners
don't get hit with such a big shock."
Orcutt says HB 3273 would
implement components of the averaging bill if voters approve the
resolution during the November general election.
"The combination of these
measures would help to reduce huge spikes in assessments that are making
it difficult for homeowners to pay their property taxes and stay in
their homes," added Orcutt. "With the current mortgage crisis, people
can't survive increased mortgage payments at the same time as they are
hit with higher property tax payments.
"Many people pay their
property taxes along with their mortgages through an escrow account.
When assessments cause large property tax increases, the mortgage
company sends a note to those homeowners saying they have a shortage. So
not only do homeowners have to pay the higher taxes, they also have to
make up that shortage in the escrow. Their budgets get sliced by a
double-edged sword," said Orcutt. "This legislation would smooth out
those increases so that people won't get hit so hard."
Orcutt's third measure, HB
3270, would require county assessors to provide to the Department of
Revenue property tax statistics and information on banked levy capacity.
Banked capacity allows taxing districts to forgo a property tax increase
in one year while retaining the option to collect it later. Orcutt says
it's currently a "guessing game" as to how much banked capacity taxing
districts in Washington have built up.
"We've had a hard time
getting good information on how much banked capacity is out there. Last
fall, the Department of Revenue estimated total banked capacity at $98
million after previously reporting it as $259 million, so no one could
quite pin it down. I think it's important that we and the taxpayers know
exactly what those numbers are," said Orcutt. "Once I get an exact
number, I hope we will be able to advance legislation that would provide
some restrictions on when and how that banked capacity is used by local
governments. That would protect homeowners from huge increases in their
property tax bills."
All three bills have been
referred to the House Finance Committee for further consideration.
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For more information, contact:
John
Sattgast, Senior Information Officer: (360) 786-7257
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