Property tax rates are on the rise in 2011.
According to the San Juan County assessor’s office, the tax rate on local property will increase countywide, on average, by 9.1 percent this year, in large part because of a boost in the state levy rate and in local school levies as well.
The 2011 state school levy will increase by $2.2 million overall from last year’s amount, according to the assessor. The county-wide contribution to state schools, which totaled $16.3 million in 2010, will rise this year to $18.5 million, an increase of 13.6 percent.
On Orcas, voters approved a maintenance and operations levy in February 2010. It replaced an expiring levy of $.36 per thousand of assessed value. The new levy is estimated at $0.61 per thousand in 2011 and $0.63 per thousand in 2012. The actual amount may be less depending on student enrollment and the percentage that the state legislature allows the district to collect. For background, the levy rate went down 38 percent in 2010 from the 2009 rate. This year’s rate is still well below the 2009 rate.
The county’s so-called “tax rolls” were certified by the assessor’s office on Feb. 14. County Treasurer Jan Sears anticipated taxpayers would begin to receive 2011 tax notices this past weekend, Assessor Charles Zalmanek noted in a press release.
Zalmanek added that property owners on San Juan Island and its nearby outer islands will share in paying an additional rate hike because voters on those islands renewed the San Juan Island Hospital and Emergency Service levy at the ballot box in 2010.
“There’s a lot of things that come into play,” he said of calculating changes in the tax rate of each taxing district. “Voters in some cases take a part in this.”
Tax rates are among several factors that determine the yearly bill that each individual property owner pays. Other factors include the number of taxing districts that a particular property lies within, and the assessed value of each property.
School levies are submitted each year to the assessor by the state Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Northwest Educational Service District 189.
The state school levy accounts for roughly 43 percent of total taxes paid, on average, by property owners in San Juan County. From port districts to library districts, county current (its general fund) to county roads, and from cemeteries to schools, the combined total for all taxing districts, including the state school levy, equals $43.4 million countywide in 2011. For a chart of the levy changes for each island, go here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/49042623/SanJuanCountylevyincreases