Cowlitz County board hears assessment appeal for petition 24-005; appellant absent

For the record, today is Jan. 9, 2025, Purvi Reid, Clerk of the Board, announced at the Cowlitz County Board of Equalization hearing on petition 24-005. The appellant and a representative of the assessor's office were not present; the board read the appellant's written statement and the assessor's response into the record.

The appellant's written statement said the subject home had been on the market for about 12 months, priced at $510,000 and listed through John L. Scott Real Estate with Tina Wallace as the listing agent. The appellant also noted that a larger home across the street sold for under $300,000 in 2023.

The assessor's office reported that it used a sales-comparison approach based on a three-year sales search of Cowlitz County and selected five sales it considered most similar to the subject property, all within about four miles. Time adjustments were applied to those sales, and additional photos from a 2016 field visit were cited to show the home's quality of construction. The assessor's analysis produced an indicated value range of $534,102 to $587,003 and noted that the existing assessed value of $597,910 lay above that range. The assessor's office recommended approving a revised value of $558,520.

No formal motion, vote, or final decision on the recommended value was recorded in the transcript excerpts for this hearing. Purvi Reid, Clerk of the Board, closed the hearing by stating, "This concludes the hearing for petition number 24 dash 5." The record does not specify next steps, a schedule for a decision, or whether the assessor or appellant will provide additional evidence at a later date.

Why it matters: Appeals to the Board of Equalization determine the market value used for property tax assessments, measured as of Jan. 1 of the assessment year. The board's review can change a property's assessed value and thus affect the owner's tax liability if a formal decision is later adopted.