Property values up; appeals way down

COEUR d'ALENE — When Mark Snow received the property assessment on the value of his Kootenai County home last month, he did a double-take.

The value had increased 10 percent, according to the notice, coming on the heels of a 6 percent hike the year before that.

Armed with an independent appraisal from when he refinanced his loan last year and proof the square footage of his property wasn't as much as the assessment indicated, Snow had most of the recent increase in value reduced at the staff level and didn't need a hearing before the Board of Equalization to plead his case.

"They thought I have a bonus room above the garage, but it's just an attic and they assessed the lot size too big," he said. "After they came to take the new measurements, they reduced the value. I just wanted it to be fair and am glad that I didn't have to go to a hearing."

Snow was among just 39 Kootenai County property owners who appealed property

assessment notices on 67 parcels this year before the Board of Equalization (county commissioners). The appeal process occurred over the past two weeks. The county mailed about 77,000 assessment notices a month ago.

The number of those who applied during the appeal period is easily the lowest in at least the past 15 years. The previous lowest number was 111 in 2012. The number reached as high as 970 in 2006 — one of the boom years before the Great Recession.

Dan Green, who served on the Board of Equalization as a county commissioner, attributed this year's low number to a strong real estate market. The rise in value for the majority of local properties was not a surprise for most residents, he said.

"We're in a market that's appreciating — nobody denies that," Green said, adding the assessments are based on real estate sales in 2015.

Rich Houser, the county's chief deputy assessor, said the net taxable value of all properties in Kootenai County in 2016 is $13.3 billion, up 6 percent from the previous year. Therefore, assessments on most properties increased.

Houser said he believes another reason for the low number of appeals is property owners have access to more information online such as their neighbors' assessed value compared to theirs, so a lot of questions are answered before needing to request a hearing.

Green said the low number of appeals also indicates the assessor's office did a great job of determining values.

"The office worked hard to be fair," he said.

Of the 67 total parcels that were appealed, 53 were affirmed (unchanged) by the board, seven assessments were reduced and another seven, including Snow's, were reduced by the assessor's office before they reached the board.

Assessment appeals through the years

Year — Appeals

2000: 166

2001: 156

2002: 153

2003: 221

2004: 133

2005: 331

2006: 970

2007: 788

2008: 732

2009: 796

2010: 206

2011: 335

2012: 111

2013: 232

2014: 172

2015: 39