Tax collections in Pierce County rising

If you live in theformer mining town of Carbonado, the 2016 property tax bill you receive this week from Pierce County could be a cause for minor celebration.

On average, Carbonado single-family homeowners will see their property taxes drop by 7.22 percent, or $153.70, the largest decline among Pierce County cities.

If you reside in Sumner, that tax bill could have the opposite effect. Sumner homeowners will see the largest increase in average tax bills, rising 9.79 percent, or $271.50.

For most everyone else, the changes they see on their 2016 property tax statements will be substantially less dramatic, said Assessor-Treasurer Mike Lonergan. His office is in charge of valuing Pierce County properties, figuring their tax bills and collecting the amounts due.

Lakewood single-family homeowners, for instance, will see their property taxes increase an average of $70.48, or 2.07 percent. In Gig Harbor, average tax bills are jumping by $66.90, or 1.73 percent. Tacoma homeowners can expect a $139.98 increase in the average tax bill, or 4.26 percent.

Puyallup property owners will see their taxes increase by $132.41, or 4.04 percent. Besides Carbonado, the only city that saw property tax bills decline was Pacific, where average single-family property taxes dropped by $33.31, or 1.47 percent.

This year total property taxes billed amount to $1.206 billion, Lonergan said. That’s $38.28 million more than total 2015 billings, a 3.28 percent increase.

This week Lonergan’s office mailed out 180,000 individual tax bills to Pierce County property owners. It transmitted 145,000 similar bills electronically to banks and mortgage companies who collect property taxes as part of mortgage payments and pay the property taxes on homeowners’ behalf.

Here are facts about 2016 property taxes:

The county’s highest and lowest tax rates: Tacoma has the highest tax rates, $16.84 per $1,000 of assessed value. Gig Harbor has the lowest rate, $10.49 per $1,000.

Pierce County’s highest average single-family residential tax bills: Unicorporated Gig Harbor Peninsula, $4,899.80. Although that relatively affluent area has one of the lowest tax rates, $11.61 per $1,000 of assessed value, it has the highest average assessed value at $422,191.

The lowest average tax bills: Carbonado, with average taxes owing on a single-family residence equaling $1,974.07. Carbonado’s tax rate is in the middle of the pack at $12.49 per $1,000 of assessed value.

About the 101 percent limitation: State law generally limits most government agencies from collecting property taxes greater than 101 percent of the amount they collected in the previous year.

The average increase of 3.28 percent is possible because of several exceptions to that rule. The most common of those is voter-approved levies. In Tacoma, for instance, voters approved extra taxes to pay the costs of a major road maintenance program. That added 20 cents per thousand to the tax rate. According to Lonergan, voter-approved levies represent 45.65 percent of total collections.

Some governmental entities aren’t subject to the limitation because of the way they levy taxes, at fixed rates per $1,000 of assessed valuation. As appraised values increase, so do total taxes charged by those entities.

Another reason for increases larger than 1 percent is the ability of governments to “bank” levy authority in years they don’t increase total property tax collections by the 1 percent maximum. Sumner is an example. Because that city held back from taking its maximum increase in tax collections in previous years, it was able to use that banked authority to increase local property taxes by more than 1 percent this year.

New construction also increases the amount governments can collect because those additions don’t count in the 101 percent calculation.

Recession bounceback: The overall assessed valuation of Pierce County properties increased for the third year in a row in 2015. That increase, 6.20 percent, wasn’t as dramatic as the increase in 2014, 8.16 percent. The recession-caused decline hasn’t been fully wiped out. In the peak year of 2008, total property values in Pierce County hit $92.6 billion. In 2015, total values were $82.2 billion. The lowest values occurred in 2013, $69.1 billion.

Paying property taxes: Half the total tax bill is due by April 30. The remainder is due by Oct. 31.

Property owners who pay their taxes directly rather than through a mortgage company can do so by check, cash, credit card or electronic check. Payments can be mailed to the Pierce County Budget & Finance Office, P.O. Box 11621, Tacoma, WA 98411-6621, or dropped off at the assessor-treasurer’s office at the Pierce County Annex, 2401 S. 35th St. A drop box is available there for after-hours payments.

Credit card and e-check payments are accepted through the assessor-treasurer’s web page at www.piercecountywa.org/atr. Phone payments can be made by calling the assessor-treasurer’s automated phone system at (253) 798-3333.

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This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Tax collections in Pierce County rising."