By Lloyd Hara

Every so often, government delivers a little good news. You may have gotten some welcomed relief on your property taxes when your 2010 statement arrived recently. We know, though, not everyone was smiling when they opened the envelope. Some got an increase in their bill.

So what happened?

Last year, in response to the falling real estate market, we reduced the assessed value of most King County residential properties by about 15 percent. Some areas dropped a little more, while other areas (such as prime waterfront or the urban core) stayed pretty steady.

As real estate values have generally decreased, there is a natural expectation that your property taxes would drop as well. Not necessarily. Here’s why.

Depending upon where you live, about half of your property tax is determined by voter approved levies for services such as schools, parks, water districts, EMS and fire/rescue. If these levies stay the same or increase from the year before, your property taxes may increase. Similarly, if other valuations decrease more than yours, your taxes may also increase.

It’s a bit like an old fashioned scale – if values go down, levy rates go up. If values go up, rates drop.

Washington is one of two states that calculate levies on a “budget” model not a rate based model. It works like this: Voters approve a $50 million school district levy for local classrooms. The school district then asks the Assessor’s Office to calculate the levy rate to collect $50 million using current assessed value.

King County has 165 taxing districts – everything from the Port, to hospitals, to local water districts – and more than 600 combinations of tax levies that go into your property tax statement. But only a sliver of your property tax dollar goes to King County – 17 cents of every property tax dollar. The remaining 83 cents is divided between the state of Washington, cities and other local jurisdictions. Over 50¢ goes to schools.

We know these are challenging times for thousands of homeowners in King County. We want to help people stay in their homes. Last year’s reduction in assessed values provided taxpayers some tax relief. If you’re a homeowner in financial trouble, and are wondering if you might qualify for an exemption or deferral, or just have some question about your property value, call 206- 296-7300 to talk to a friendly, helpful member of the Assessor’s Office.

Although our region has faired better than, say, Detroit, Las Vegas or Phoenix, these have been tough times. Homeowners believe their assessed value should reflect market realities. That’s fair. As we work through the aftermath of this housing bubble, we’re committed to King County citizens to be fair, equitable and understandable.

Lloyd Hara is King County Assessor