Washington State is a budget based system. All property within a district is assessed. It is a rate based system times your assessed value to determine your rate. Market sales used in mass appraisal process determines the appraised value as of January 1, 2018 used to calculate taxes payable in 2019.

 

Changes to the State and Local School Enrichment Levies through the passage in 2017 of EHB 2242 partly in response to the State Supreme Court's McCleary decision. The Court found that the State was not meeting its constitutional requirements to fully fund basic education. At least two of the components in the bill will impact our property tax bill now and in the future. First, beginning with the 2018 tax collection, the bill created a second portion to the state school levy. The new second portion increases the combined rate by $0.82 per $1,000 in assessed value from last year resulting in an increase in our tax bill. The first portion is $1.84 and the second portion is $1.01 for a total rate of $2.85 per thousand in assessed value.

 

Second, beginning in 2019, the legislation imposes limitations on how much can be collected in local school (Enrichment) levies by restricting the levy to the lesser of $1.50 levy rate or $2,500 per pupil. The provision affects both existing and new school levies. Otherwise, residential property owners will likely see a reduction in local schools enrichment and state school taxes in 2019.

 

Her office has 65 employees and her budget is based solely on the decision of the Snohomish County Council. Her staffing level is 40% underfunded. If you do the math, that would mean 26 employees. But the Assessor commented that she would be well served with around ten new employees.