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Thurston County, Washington

The content on the Thurston County website is currently provided in English. We are providing the “Translation” for approximately 10 languages. The goal of the translation is to provide visitors with limited English proficiency to access information on the website in other languages. The translations do not translate all types of documents, and it may not give you an exact translation all the time. The translations are made through an automated process, which may not result in accurate or precise translations, particularly of technical and legal terminology.

Assessor

Introduction

The Assessor does not establish the dollar amount of property taxes required nor does the Assessor bill or collect property taxes. The property tax rate is calculated by the Assessor according to statutory limits. The Assessor is responsible for checking the amounts asked for by the taxing districts to make sure they are within the limits set by state law. We also compile all the different levy rates in your taxing areas to determine the total tax rate for your property.

The Assessor does not raise property values in order to increase taxes. The cost of providing public services determines your property tax. Local government consists of various taxing districts including fire districts, regional library, cities, county government, roads, ports. A portion of the tax is distributed to the state for local school support. In addition, property taxes are collected to pay for special voter-approved levies, such as school maintenance and operation levies and fire district bonds. The Assessor sets the levy rates based on taxing district budget requests, statutory limits, and property values. Levy rates are expressed in dollars per thousand dollars of assessed value.


Levy Limitations

Regular Levies are taxes that a district may impose each year without voter approval. Regular property tax levies are subject to several statutory and constitutional limits.

  • The "levy limit" restricts the increase of the levy of individual taxing districts to one percent or to the implicit price deflator, whichever is lower. The base to which the increase is applied is the highest allowable levy since 1986. Amounts attributable to new construction and to increases in utility values are added to the allowed percentage increase. This law applies to a taxing district budget and not to individual properties. RCW 84.55.010.
  • The regular levy of each taxing district cannot exceed the following rate, which is determined by the type of district. (The regular districts can also have voter approval for levy rate increases, purpose and/or length of time.) RCW 84.52.010
County Current Expense 1.800
County Road 2.250
Cities *3.375 - 3.600
Emergency Medical .500
Fire 1.000-**1.500
Hospital .750
Library .500
Port .450
Public Utility District .450
Parks and Rec .600
State School (State) 3.600
State School (Local) Varies

*Unless annexed to Library and/or Fire.

**Has one full-time paid employee or contracts with another municipal corporation for the services of at least one full-time paid employee.

  • The aggregate regular levy rate of all senior and junior taxing districts (not including the state, port districts and public utility districts, emergency medical levies, and conservation futures) cannot exceed $5.90. RCW 84.52.043.
  • The aggregate of all regular levies (not including port and public utility districts) shall not exceed 1% of true and fair value. WASHINGTON 1972 AMENDMENT STATE CONSTITUTION, ARTICLE VII, Sec. 2 and RCW 84.52.050

Voters within a district may approve excess or special levies. These levies may be for maintenance and operation (M&O) or for construction of buildings or other facilities. M&O levies are generally limited to one year except School Districts & Fire Districts, which are permitted to vote on two to four year levies. Levies to finance general obligation bonds for capital improvement purposes usually obligate the voters to pay annual principal and interest costs over a period of several years. Voter approved excess or special levies are over and above the statutory and constitutional limitations. Qualified senior/disabled persons are exempt from these levies. RCW 84.52.052


The Budget Cycle

Every year the directors or commissioners of all taxing districts meet in open session to determine the amount of taxes to be collected the following year. Public questions or comments are welcomed during this process. Once the budget has been adopted, and a resolution passed by the Taxing District Commissioners, the amount of taxes to be collected is certified to the Assessor. The Assessor computes the levy rate required to raise the certified tax for each district, and insures that none of the constitutional or statutory limitations are violated. After the levy rates have been determined by the Assessor, taxes are extended to all property within the boundaries of the respective districts. The County Treasurer mails tax bills on or around February 14 of the year in which they are collected, and the receipts are distributed back to the various districts.


Do taxes change if values rise or fall?

Not necessarily. Assessed Value is determined the year before property taxes are due and reflect market values in a region. Values may fluctuate due to inflation, when demand exceeds supply, when property characteristics change, or when disaster strikes. The assessor's role is to see that all property within the county is fairly and uniformly valued for tax purposes. This ensures that taxes are distributed among taxpayers impartially. Tax rates are set late in the year after taxing districts submit their annual budgets. The budget for each taxing district is divided by the total value of all parcels served by the district to determine its tax rate. Tax rates for a given tax code area are then added together to achieve a combined tax rate per $1,000 of assessed value.

Taxing District Contacts

Whom do I call if I have questions? For questions about values, aggregate tax rates, or levy rates, contact the Assessor’s Office at 360-867-2200. For questions about paying property taxes, call the Treasurer’s Office at 360-786-5550. For questions about budgets and district levies, contact the individual taxing district.

Taxing District  Contact  Phone 
Cemetery Districts:
Cemetery District 1  Ronda Dye  (360) 273-8336
Cemetery District 2  Wendy Dionne (360) 458-5377 
Cities & Towns: 
Bucoda  Janiza Morados (360) 278-3525  
Lacey  Troy Woo (360) 438-2624
Olympia  Aaron BeMiller (360) 753-8465  
Rainier  Tami Justice  (360) 446-2265 x 3 
Tumwater  Shelly Carter   (360)754-4120  
Tenino  Jeb Scharber (360) 264-2368  
Yelm  Stephanie Nanavich   (360) 458-8403
Fire Districts: 
Fire District 1 (Rochester)  Shannon Hemminger (360) 352-1614 
Fire District 2 (Yelm)  Kris Kruse  (360) 458-2799  
Fire District 3 (Lacey)  Dale Hough (360) 528-2310
Fire District 4 (Rainier)  Kris Kruse (360) 458-2799
Fire District 6 (East Olympia)  Kris Antich  (360) 491-5533  
Fire District 8 (South Bay)  Heidi Stumpf  (360) 491-5320
Fire District 9 (McLane)  Brett Warwick   (360) 866-1000  
Fire District 11 (Littlerock)  Shannon Hemminger (360) 352-1614  
Fire District 12 (Tenino)  Nijah Ahmed (360) 264-4116
Fire District 13 (Griffin)  Corey A. Rux  (360) 866-9000  
Fire District 17 (Bald Hills)  Helen Heywood-Mang  (360) 894-2517  
S.E. Thurston Regional Fire Authority Kris Kruse (360) 458-2799
West Thurston Regional Fire Authority Shannon Hemminger (360) 352-1614 
Other taxing districts
Thurston County Robin Campbell (360) 786-5440
Timberland Regional Library Paige Preston (360) 704-4621
Medic One  Sandra Bush  (360) 704-2784  
Port of Olympia  Matt Peach  (360) 528-8004
PUD 1  John Weidenfeller  (360) 357-8783
Tanglewilde Park & Rec  David “Dayv” Lowry (360) 359-0713
Olympia Metropolitan Park Dist. Aaron BeMiller (360) 753-8465
Tumwater Metropolitan Park Dist. Shelly Carter (360) 754-4130
North Thurston SD 3  Dr. Debra Clemens  (360) 412-4400
Olympia SD 111  Jennifer Priddy (360) 596-6129
Rainier SD 307  Bryon Bahr (360) 446-2207  
Rochester SD 401  Jill Pratt (360) 273-5536  
Tenino SD 402 Brenda Padgett (360) 264-3421
Tumwater SD 33 Melissa Richter (360) 709-7011
Yelm School District  Jennifer Carrougher (360) 458-6104
Centralia as 401-L Joe Vetter (360) 330-7600
Griffin SD 324 Greg Woods (360) 866-9684

 

Taxing District Forms

BUDGET INSTRUCTIONS

Taxing Districts must submit their budgets to the county legislative authority on or before November 30 each year in accordance with RCW 84.52.020.

For convenience, forms are described below and can be downloaded from this website.


FOR ALL TAXING DISTRICTS

Memo from the Assessor

District Memo
Budget Packet Memorandum with dates and contact descriptions.
Memo from the Assessor

Ordinance/Resolution

REV 64 0101
Taxing Districts must complete this Ordinance/Resolution in accordance with RCW 84.55.120 in order to increase this year's property tax revenue over the previous year. Otherwise, a taxing district can only increase its revenue through the addition of new construction, improvements to property, and any increase in the value of state-assessed property. If a taxing district wants to raise its levy amount, this Ordinance/Resolution, listing the dollar increase and percentage change in the levy from the previous year, must be submitted to the County Assessor�s Office.

This form was designed by the Department of Revenue and is also available on their web site.
First Ordinance/Resolution (fill-in)
Second Ordinance Resolution (This will be available once finalized by Department of Revenue.)

Levy Certification

Levy Cert-BOCC
This levy certification is required in accordance with RCW 84.52.020. The taxing district must certify its budget with the clerk of the county legislative authority by November 30.
Levy Certification (fill-in)

District Personnel & Levy Contacts

District Contacts
The County uses this form to maintain a current listing of District Personnel & Contacts.
District Personnel & Levy Contacts (fill-in)

Levy Calculation Worksheets

For Previous Budget Year
See next section


FOR REGIONAL FIRE AUTHORITIES ONLY

Certification Form for Full-Time FTE (Due to law change, this is no longer required for Fire Districts.)

FD Cert-FTE
Fire Districts must complete this certification form in accordance with RCW 52.16.160. This certification allows a fire district with one full-time employee (or who contracts with a municipal corporation with one full-time employee) to exceed the regular levy by not more than fifty cents per thousand dollars of assessed value.
Certification Form for Full-Time FTE (fill-in)

Taxing District 2024 2023 2022 2021
Cemetery District # 1 - Rochester View View View View
Cemetery District # 2 - Yelm View View View View
City of Lacey View View View View
City of Olympia View View View View
City of Rainier View View View View
City of Tenino View View View View
City of Tumwater View View View View
City of Yelm View View View View
Conservation Futures View View View View
Fire District No.1 - Rochester-Grand Mound   View View View
Fire District No.3 - Lacey View View View View
Fire District No.4 - Rainier   View View View
Fire District No.5 - Black Lake        
Fire District No.6 - East Olympia View View View View
Fire District No.8 - South Bay View View View View
Fire District No.9 - McLane View View View View
Fire District No.11 - Littlerock View View View View
Fire District No. 12 - South Thurston Fire & EMS View View View View
Fire District No.13 - Griffin View View View View
Fire District No.17 - Bald Hills View View View View
Medic One View View View View
Medic One - Lid Lift View View    
Olympia Metropolitan Park District View View View View
Port of Olympia View View View View
South East Thurston Regional Fire Authority View View View View
Tanglewilde Park & Rec View View View View
Thurston County View View View View
Thurston County PUD View View View View
Thurston County Roads View View View View
Timberland Regional Library View View View View
Town of Bucoda View View View View
Tumwater Metropolitan Park Dist View View View View
West Thurston Regional Fire Authority View View View View
Yelm Fire District   View View View