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Assessor urges caution on revaluation: single-family homes could shoulder larger share of tax burden
Summary
City assessor staff outlined a possible revaluation (reval) and said current equalization rates suggest residential properties (about 30%) trail businesses (about 50%), which could shift tax burden toward single-family homeowners if a citywide reval occurs.
The city assessor described plans to update property records and the possible consequences of a full revaluation.
Assessor staff said the city is planning to update parcel photos and property characteristics using a new tablet-based workflow and that a revaluation would examine market values across roughly 22,000 parcels. Staff reported the citywide equalization rate was about 41% last year, and their analysis suggested residential equalization near 30% while businesses were nearer 50%.
"If we do a reval, it would move more of the tax burden on to the residences than on the business," the assessor said, explaining that equalization is the assessed value as a share of market value and that updating assessments to market values changes who ultimately pays a given levy. The assessor noted non-profit and wholly exempt parcels account for a large share of the city's tax base; roughly 30% of assessed value lies with not-for-profits, complicating revenue generation.
Staff said updating photos, mapping and exemptions (more than 3,000 exemption filings were pending for the season) is underway and that ImageMate software is budgeted for record management, though the vendor has had reliability issues.
Why it matters: A revaluation would not increase the total city levy, but updating assessed values to reflect market differences would shift the distribution of who pays; the assessor warned single-family owners could see comparatively larger increases if market values for houses have risen faster than for business parcels.
Ending: The assessor urged continued community discussion and said revaluation timing and funding (including possible ARPA support) will be evaluated before moving forward.
