Published: Friday, September 23, 2011
Herald endorsement / Snohomish County assessor
Keep experienced Portmann
In a real estate market that's been moving in one direction (south) at one speed (fast), property owners are increasingly confused and even angered by their county tax assessments. They know their home's value, and their equity, has plunged. Yet the county assessor's office values their home at more than they likely could get in a sale.
It's a situation being seized upon by the challenger for Snohomish County assessor, Chris Vallo, in his race against the two-term incumbent, Cindy Portmann. Vallo claims Portmann's office has been assessing property for more than it's worth, suggesting tax bills are too high, and insinuating that Portmann lacks competence.
It's a line of reasoning that may ring bells with some property owners. Trouble is, it's way off base.
Portmann, in fact, runs a highly competent office that's been recognized repeatedly for meeting or exceeding state and professional assessment standards. It's been a leader in adopting new technology, from a user-friendly website that allows citizens to quickly access data on their property and recent sales in their neighborhood, to a new mobile app that uses GPS coordinates to relay basic assessment information to a smart phone.
She deserves re-election to a third term -- which because of term limits, would be her last.
Portmann's competence comes from years of experience in the assessor's office. Before being elected eight years ago, she had worked as the chief deputy assessor for a decade. She oversaw the successful transition from four-year to annual assessments (greatly reducing quadrennial sticker shock), without an increase in staff. More recently, she has managed a reduction in staff from 76 to 62, and her office maintains one of the state's highest ratios of property parcels to staff -- an indication of efficiency.
Complaints that properties are assessed at more than they're worth owe to state law, which requires market evidence to be gathered a year or more before taxes come due. In a rapidly changing market, assessments are bound to trail true value to some extent. They aren't the product of an assessor's whims. State data actually show that in Snohomish County, assessments have, on average, been somewhat below market values in recent years.
Vallo, a regional network engineering operations manager for Frontier Communications, would have an extremely steep learning curve. He says he's a quick learner, and we don't doubt that. But the complexities involved in assessing 284,000 parcels are myriad. Better to stick with Portmann's record of experience and competence, especially in this volatile market.
It's a situation being seized upon by the challenger for Snohomish County assessor, Chris Vallo, in his race against the two-term incumbent, Cindy Portmann. Vallo claims Portmann's office has been assessing property for more than it's worth, suggesting tax bills are too high, and insinuating that Portmann lacks competence.
It's a line of reasoning that may ring bells with some property owners. Trouble is, it's way off base.
Portmann, in fact, runs a highly competent office that's been recognized repeatedly for meeting or exceeding state and professional assessment standards. It's been a leader in adopting new technology, from a user-friendly website that allows citizens to quickly access data on their property and recent sales in their neighborhood, to a new mobile app that uses GPS coordinates to relay basic assessment information to a smart phone.
She deserves re-election to a third term -- which because of term limits, would be her last.
Portmann's competence comes from years of experience in the assessor's office. Before being elected eight years ago, she had worked as the chief deputy assessor for a decade. She oversaw the successful transition from four-year to annual assessments (greatly reducing quadrennial sticker shock), without an increase in staff. More recently, she has managed a reduction in staff from 76 to 62, and her office maintains one of the state's highest ratios of property parcels to staff -- an indication of efficiency.
Complaints that properties are assessed at more than they're worth owe to state law, which requires market evidence to be gathered a year or more before taxes come due. In a rapidly changing market, assessments are bound to trail true value to some extent. They aren't the product of an assessor's whims. State data actually show that in Snohomish County, assessments have, on average, been somewhat below market values in recent years.
Vallo, a regional network engineering operations manager for Frontier Communications, would have an extremely steep learning curve. He says he's a quick learner, and we don't doubt that. But the complexities involved in assessing 284,000 parcels are myriad. Better to stick with Portmann's record of experience and competence, especially in this volatile market.
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