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Tax Bills Decrease For Most Spokane County Property Owners

Spokane County

The so-called ‘McCleary fix’ is now becoming real for Spokane County taxpayers.

Last year, the Washington legislature shifted some of the property owners’ tax burden from the local to state level as part of a revised plan to increase funding for public schools. That is showing up on the property tax bills mailed this week by the county assessor’s office.

Assessor Tom Konis says about 83% of property owners are seeing a reduction in their local taxes.

“The other 17% had new construction on their property so their taxes weren’t going to go down. They’ve either built a house or improved a commercial building and therefore, their value went up substantially,” Konis said.

This is probably a one-time occurrence as property taxes are expected to stay level or even increase next year. The legislature is also re-evaluating whether to increase the limit on local property taxes for school levies. That limit was imposed last year as part of the shift of taxes to the state level.