Property owners concerned about taxes more than doubling

SEDRO-WOOLLEY - A significant property tax increase on a 4.91-acre property in Sedro-Woolley has the owners worried about the impact the increase may have on themselves, and on the businesses on the property.

For years, Skagit Valley Burger Express and JR's RV Repair and Rebuild have had their businesses on the property owned by Mark Visser and Kevin Pawlowski.

In October, Skagit County assessed the property at more than double the previous assessed value, causing the annual property taxes to increase from about $15,600 to about $33,800 in one year.

The increase may cause Visser and Pawlowski to pass the increase along to the businesses on the property, they said.

The property was assessed at about $1.7 million in 2025, and $3.75 million in 2026, causing the property taxes to skyrocket.

Since 2010, the taxes on the property have been about $16,000 a year.

Visser and Pawlowski agreed that a property tax increase was due - the property was assessed at $1.55 million in 2008 and increased at the most by $150,000 a year - but neither expected such a significant increase in just one year.

"It's so bold to raise the assessed value from $1.7 million to $3.7 million and shove it down the throat of one of your taxpayers," Visser said. "I'm just really dumbfounded that our elected or appointed officials think that's OK."

Pawlowski said the increase will be hard to adjust to, both for him and the businesses.

"We get that it needed to be increased, but not $2 million in one year," he said. "It's outrageous and unfair."

Skagit County Assessor Danny Hagen said the property is difficult to assess because of several factors, one being the limited number of comparable sales. Because the property is commercial, there are a lot less comparable sales than residential properties.

Hagen said this causes commercial property values to have larger swings in assessed value than residential properties.

He said the "main driver" of the increase in assessed value was the 2024 sale of a commercial property in the area.

The property, which is on Highway 20 about a half-mile west, sold for $900,000 and is about a quarter of the size of Visser and Pawlowski's property. Hagen said this was the only comparable sale in the area.

Hagen also said that commercial properties have become harder to assess following the COVID-19 pandemic and because of the increased number of apartment buildings in the county.

He said that some local governments have changed zoning regulations to allow for more housing units such as apartments and condominiums, which has increased property values, especially in Sedro-Woolley and Burlington.

Before the zoning changes, commercial properties were utilized primarily for retail purposes, but now that those properties allow for apartments, their value has increased, Hagen said.

Visser and Pawlowski's property is zoned as urban village mixed-use, which allows for apartment buildings, per Sedro-Woolley's municipal code.

Hagen said all of these factors converged at once, causing the assessed value of Visser and Pawlowski's property to increase significantly in just one year.

Hagen said he'd prefer if these adjustments could happen gradually over a number of years, but that can be difficult, especially with commercial properties.

"I'm trying to figure out how we can actually kind of correct that," Haggen said. "It is a more difficult job because of the lack of sales."

Visser and Pawlowski appealed the assessment to the county Board of Equalization, but the board upheld the assessed value.

There were 157 commercial property owners that appealed their assessed value this tax year, an increase of about 50% from the previous two years. Most commercial appeals are stipulated or withdrawn prior to appearing before the Board of Equalization.

Of the 57 commercial property appeals that went to the Board of Equalization, 50 have been unsuccessful and seven are pending.

Pawlowski said that in conversations with real estate agents and other property owners in the area, he's found that many disagree with the assessed value of his property.

"If the county says it's worth $3.7 (million), oh boy, we would take that check and run to the bank with it today if we could, but nobody's going to pay," he said.

Pawlowski said the drastic increase is likely to put a burden on the businesses on the property.

"We're going to have to pass it on to our renters," Pawlowski said. "The cost is going to be a big ask for them in terms of the increase."

JR's RV Repair and Rebuild owner Dixie Sherwood said the business's lease is up in fall 2027.

"I'd be very concerned if I didn't have a lease," Sherwood said.

But Sherwood said she is already questioning whether she will renew the lease as an increase in rent may push her toward declining to renew.

Skagit Valley Burger Express owner Barbara Borders said she's not worried. Her business has been at that location for 14 years, and she has no plans of moving.

Borders said that Visser and Pawlowski have always been reasonable, and she doesn't expect that to change when her lease is up next year.

"They have worked with us since the beginning stages and they have just been wonderful to us," Borders said. "I cannot imagine that that would ever change."

Borders said that she and her business will do what it needs to do to stay at its location.

She compared a potential increase in rent to the rising grocery and gasoline prices that are impacting the country.

"Everybody is facing the same situation, and I just will, as carefully as I can, face anything they need to throw at me to keep themselves going, and then I have to do the same," Borders said. "That's the way it is for all of us in business. We just take it as it goes, and hopefully we are doing well enough we can manage all that."

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