Nikki, an Assessor's Office staff member, told the Franklin County Board of Equalization on Oct. 14 that the office has filled several positions, is progressing accreditation for staff appraisers and has launched a new in‑house geographic information system on the county website.

The office introduced two new hires, Tim Kelly and Mariah Rogers, and said Kelly is working toward accreditation while Rogers holds licenses in multiple states. Nikki credited a staff member named Finney with building a new GIS portal that she said updates overnight and offers measurement tools, printable map output and additional appraisal‑related layers the office plans to add over time. "Please give us feedback," Nikki said, asking users to test the new map and report problems.

The assessor's presentation emphasized the office's connection to state oversight. According to the presenter, the Washington State Department of Revenue's property tax division issues guidance, reviews reevaluation plans and expects assessors to inspect property on a six‑year cycle; the presenter cited revaluation manual material and named RCWs and WACs as governing references. The office reported the county's latest revaluation plan was approved for the 2027 rule year (values as of Jan. 1, 2026 for taxes payable in 2027).

On outreach, the office said it mailed change‑of‑value notices on Aug. 29 to all nonexempt parcels and included a two‑sided informational flyer this year. The flyer, the presenter said, describes exemptions and senior/disabled programs and was intended to improve transparency and taxpayer understanding; staff said continuing the mailing depends on commissioners' budget approval for printing and postage.

Staff reviewed the standard annual workflow for valuations: land values set early in the year, improvements reviewed in late winter, field inspections April–July, August valuation of inspected properties and September mailings of value notices. Monthly work includes validating market sales, interviewing buyers, and updating county records. The office noted that commercial income questionnaires can be difficult to obtain because some landlords consider lease terms proprietary, though multifamily questionnaires historically have yielded higher return rates.

Nikki summarized parcel‑level outcomes from the 2025 revaluation (values as of Jan. 1, 2025 for taxes payable 2026). The office mailed 34,121 notices to nonexempt parcels. Of those, 6,355 parcels showed a 1–15% assessment increase (excluding new construction); 396 rose 16–30%; 102 rose 31–40%; and 967 rose more than 40% (many tied to newly platted lots that are reset from prior low lot values). The office said 7,565 parcels saw decreases and 18,736 parcels with zero change still received the new flyer. The presenter noted that some outside towns and inspection areas saw larger corrections because they had not been physically inspected within the six‑year cycle.

On market trends, the assessor said most residential markets were stable for 2024 into early 2025, with some neighborhoods showing declines that will be tracked for the next revaluation. Submarket examples provided included East Pasco (+5.28% residential), West Pasco (+20.44%, largely land reclassifications in Broadmoor), and outside towns (inspection area) +19.46%; the presenter said Connell experienced late‑2024 declines of about 30% in some pockets and that the office used recent sales when available to reflect market movement.

For commercial valuations, staff said limited resources kept many commercial parcels unchanged this cycle; where changes occurred, they were often the result of newly identified improvements found during inspections. The presentation included a refresher on the income approach and explained that for tax assessment purposes the assessor removes property taxes as an allowable operating expense and instead loads the cap rate to avoid compounding errors from prior incorrect assessments.

Staff closed with appeals and casework numbers: a summary of Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) and petition activity since 2016, a note that the BTA backlog remains substantial, and mention of pending legislative changes intended to expedite small‑value appeals. The presenter urged petitioners to provide evidence early, described the office's appeal review processes and said complete petitions receive multi‑hour staff review and secondary appraiser verification.

The presentation concluded with an invitation to the public and internal users to test and provide feedback on the new GIS portal and the sales‑search features when they become available.