Kitsap County Assessor's Newsletter January 2025

Happy New Year!  I hope that 2025 is a great year for everyone!

Thank you for subscribing to the Assessor’s Office newsletter.  I hope that you are finding the information educational and useful.  If you have suggestions on how we can make this publication more beneficial to you, please do not hesitate to contact the office at assessor@kitsap.gov or call 360.337.7160.

Phil Cook
Kitsap County Assessor

Physical inspections

Has an appraiser from the office ever left a postcard at your property? Have you ever wondered why? 

The postcard serves a couple of purposes.  It is used to inform residents who has been to their home. With the increased use of security cameras and other technologies, appraisers want to reduce your concerns about who and why someone was at your home.  It also serves as a tool to communicate with a property owner.  If an appraiser from the office notices something about the property that appears to be different than what is on record, they will leave the card asking the property owner to contact them to answer any questions the appraiser may have.  This helps to ensure that data is kept current and accurate.  Afterall, if your home has had damage or deteriorated in recent years, then that information should be updated to ensure accurate assessed values.

What is the 1% property tax limit?

The 1% property tax limit has been in place for over 20 years but can be misunderstood.  This limit does not mean that the assessed value on your property may only increase by 1%.  The Assessor must assess taxable property at 100% of market value by law (RCW 84.40.030).

The 1% levy limit applies to tax districts and how much they may levy for property taxes.  The limit allows individual tax districts a 1% increase to their property taxes each year without voter approval.  For example, a district that levied $100,000 last year, may levy $100,000, plus 1% ($1,000) and any tax revenues generated by new construction and state assessed value increases.

Does this mean that your property taxes will not increase more than 1% a year?  No, not necessarily.  Individual tax bills are based on several factors, such as how much your property changes in value compared to other properties within a tax district or if voters approve tax increases exceeding the 1% levy limit.

The Washington State Department of Revenue provides a publication, Property tax – How the one percent property tax levy limit works, which includes additional information on the 1% levy limit.  Examples illustrate how changes to the assessed value on a property compared to another property impact the property tax amount.  General property tax levy information is included as well.

Do you know which tax district your home is in?

Have you ever wondered what taxing districts your property is in? 

The easiest way to look up your property is on Parcel Search, the county’s mapping tool.  Once you are on the map, you may look up your property by the parcel number, physical address or even by the mailing address.  Once the property has been displayed, click on the “choose a theme” from the dropdown tab on the left side of the page in the “Manage Layers’ section.  From the dropdown, you will see an option for “Districts”.  If you click on that, you will have the option to pick whichever district type you are looking for, whether it’s a School District, Fire District, County Commissioners District, etc. After you have selected the district, go to the legend tab to identify the district.

Public outreach and presentations

The Poulsbo Library holds Social Service Wednesday the third Wednesday of each month.  Staff from our office will be attending the event on January 15^th and will be available to answer questions about the Senior Citizen and Disabled Persons Property Tax Exemption Program.  The event will be at the Poulsbo Library located at 700 NE Lincoln Road, Poulsbo, on Wednesday, January 15^th from 11:00am to 1:00pm.

If you or your organization would like to have representatives from the Assessor’s Office, come and speak, please reach out to the office at assessor@kitsap.gov or call 360.337.7160.

Business personal property

Personal property filing reminders and listings will be sent later this month.  The portal to file a personal property listing for a business will be available for use at that time.  Additional information on filing personal property listings will be included in our February newsletter.