FRED H. DORE et al., Appellants, v. GEORGE KINNEAR et al., Respondents
No. 41783
En Banc. Supreme Court of Washington
October 14, 1971.
79 Wn.2d 755
Slade Gorton, Attorney General, Timothy R. Malone, Assistant, Christopher T. Bayley, Prosecuting Attorney, Elmer E. Johnston, Jr., Chief Civil Deputy, and William R. Creech, Deputy, for respondents.
Robert E. Schillberg, Prosecuting Attorney, Allen J. Hendricks, Deputy, and Edwards E. Merges, amici curiae.
HUNTER, J.—This is an action by the plaintiffs (appellants), as residents and taxpayers in King County on behalf of themselves and other taxpayers similarly situated, seeking a permanent injunction restraining the defendants (respondents), the Washington State Director of Revenue, the King County Assessor, the King County Executive and the King County Board of Equalization, from placing the assessed values obtained by a revaluation of the plaintiffs’ property on the King County assessment rolls for the payment of real property taxes for the year 1971.
On September 2, 1969, the director of the Department of Revenue entered into a contract with John Spellman, King County Executive, for appraisal funds appropriated by the state, Laws of 1969, Ex. Ses., ch. 282, § 4, p. 2745; Laws of 1970, Ex. Ses., ch. 95, § 1, p. 736, for the purpose of undertaking a comprehensive revaluation of real property in King County over a 4-year period.
The program provided that for each of the 4 years, approximately 25 per cent of the 450,000 parcels of real property located in King County would be revalued and placed
A contract for appraisals was entered into with the Jacobs Company, Inc., an Illinois corporation, to appraise approximately 70,000 parcels of property during the first year, and the remaining 20,000 parcels located in the Shoreline school district were to be appraised by the King County Assessor‘s staff.
By May 31, 1970, the Jacobs Company, Inc. had completed appraisals on 27,000 parcels out of its total of 70,000. The King County Assessor‘s office placed these new values on the assessment rolls for the purpose of taxes payable in 1971. As of the same date appraisers on the King County Assessor‘s staff had completed appraisals of the buildings and improvements on 7,000 parcels located in the Shoreline school district, but had not appraised the land. The new values for these buildings and improvements were not placed on the assessment rolls for taxes payable in 1971.
The contentions of the plaintiffs, which we deem critical to the disposition of the case, are that the revaluation of only 27,000 parcels and placing them on the 1971 assessment rolls, was a failure of compliance with the 4-year cyclical revaluation program as directed by the legislature in
On March 3, 1971, the plaintiffs filed a motion in this court for a temporary injunction, pending the resolution of this appeal, to restrain the defendants from collecting the increased tax for the year of 1971, by reason of the revaluation of the 27,000 parcels owned by these plaintiffs. This relief was granted by this court in its order dated March 29, 1971.
In this appeal now before us on the merits, it is the defendants’ position that the conduct of the county assessor was not intentionally discriminatory, and that a revision of the appraisal program will be made to include all the property in King County in the remaining 3 years of the cyclical period; that this, in effect, would cure any deviation that has taken place during the first year of the cycle. We disagree with this rationale.
The legislature has vested in county authorities the power and duty to list, appraise, and assess all taxable property within the county, and to levy and collect all such property taxes. These responsibilities are not vested in the county authorities without conditions and limitations which they are compelled to follow. We have repeatedly held that county authorities are totally dependent upon the legislature for any power which they may exercise in the assessing and levying of taxes. State ex rel. School Dist. 37 v. Clark County, 177 Wash. 314, 31 P.2d 897 (1934); Great Northern Ry. v. Stevens County, 108 Wash. 238, 183 P. 65 (1919).
In the instant case, the county assessors are directed to maintain a systematic and continuous 4-year cyclical revaluation program as prescribed by the legislature in
Each county assessor shall commence, immediately if possible, but no later than January 1, 1956, a comprehensive program of revaluation of all taxable property within his respective county. Such program shall progress at a rate which will result in the revaluation of all taxable property within the county before June 1, 1958.
Each assessor shall thereafter maintain an active and systematic program of revaluation on a continuous basis, and shall establish a revaluation schedule which will result in revaluation of all taxable property within the county at least once each four years. A copy of such schedule shall be filed by each assessor with the tax commission before October 15, 1956.
(Italics ours.)
In 1969 the legislature, recognizing the inequalities in the revaluation programs, passed a general appropriation act making funds available to the county assessors. Pursuant to the requirements of Laws of 1969, Ex. Ses., ch. 282, § 4, p. 2745, the King County Assessor submitted a comprehensive revaluation plan to the Department of Revenue in order that King County may qualify for funding of the revaluation program. The purpose of the funds was to assist the assessor in maintaining a systematic revaluation program as required by
WHEREAS, It has been determined that the County does not have sufficient resources to effectively carry out its obligation under
Chapter 84.41 RCW , to revalue real property within its boundaries for ad valorem tax purposes, andWHEREAS, The Legislature of the State of Washington has provided the Department of Revenue with funds to aid counties in revaluation programs,
The revaluation program initiated in 1969 by the King County Assessor with state funding was an apparent attempt to comply with
As previously discussed in the facts, the revaluation of the 90,000 parcels in phase one of the program was to be a joint effort of the Jacobs Company, Inc. and the King County Assessor‘s office, with the latter responsible for re
The contract between the Jacobs Company, Inc. and King County for the revaluation of 70,000 of the 90,000 parcels in phase one of the program was entered into on October 14, 1969. The contract provided that the first year phase of the revaluation program was to be completed in less than 3 months by December 31, 1969. However, on October 23, 1969, 9 days after the contract was entered into, a work plan was added to the contract dividing the 70,000 parcels into two parts so that the Jacobs Company, Inc. would revalue only 40,000 parcels by April 30, 1970, and the remainder of the 70,000 parcels by December 31, 1970, of which 30,000 parcels would not be eligible for placement on the 1971 tax rolls. The language of the revision is as follows:
Completion Schedule
The completion schedule of work within the Phase I Project Area will be staggered by Parts A and B, west and east of the Seattle Freeway, as follows:
Part A—West of Freeway—all appraisal work in this part of the Phase I Project area will be completed and delivered to the County Assessor May 15, 1970 with
new and remodeled structures appraised as of April 30, 1970. Testimony on Part A appraisal before the King County Board of Equalization will be given starting July 1, 1970. Part B—East of Freeway—all appraisal work in this part of the Phase I Project area will be completed by December 31, 1970 with the exception that new buildings or buildings altered or remodeled shall be reappraised as of April 30, 1971 and these up-dated appraisals shall be delivered to the County Assessor by May 15, 1971. Testimony on Part B appraisals before the King County Board of Equalization will be given starting July 1, 1971.
As of May 31, 1970, the date by which the new revaluations must have been completed in order to be placed on the tax rolls for the year of 1971, the Jacobs Company, Inc. had completed only 27,000 parcels.
The record further shows that under the agreement with the Washington State Department of Revenue, dated September 2, 1969, the work of phase one was not required to be completed until June 30, 1971. This agreement provided, in part, as follows:
1. Eligibility for Grant Assistance. The Department agrees to certify to the State Treasurer that the County is eligible for grant assistance and shall be compensated the total sum of $1,091,379.00 or any portion thereof for the satisfactory performance of the work set forth in the Implementation of Project Area I of the plan for revaluation as submitted by the County and approved by the Department on September 2, 1969, and any other area that may be contracted for within the allowable funds.
2. Time of Performance. It is expressly agreed and understood that the amount set forth in section I above shall constitute the total compensation for the work so described and that said work shall be completed on or before June 30, 1971.
It is an inescapable conclusion from the above record that from the beginning of the implementation of the first phase of the 4-year cyclical program the assessor knew he could not complete the first phase of the revaluation program prior to May 30, 1970; that he was not required by his
This conclusion is further unassailable by reason of the assessor‘s failure to revalue and place even one of the remaining 20,000 parcels on the assessment rolls for 1971 taxes as provided in the first phase of the plan.
The plan in effect was converted to a 3-year plan for the revaluation of 94 per cent of the remaining taxable parcels of King County. If the cyclical period is to be converted to a 3-year cycle for the owners of 94 per cent of the taxable parcels, as the record now shows, it would appear the plaintiff owners of 6 per cent of the parcels should receive like treatment. Therefore, by placing the 27,000 parcels in phase one on the 1971 assessment rolls instead of the 1972 assessment rolls, as will be the case of the remaining 90,000 parcels in the area of phase one, constituted unequal treatment to the taxpayers in the phase one area.
Such willful departure from the systematic plan by the county assessor was completely out of harmony with the fundamental purpose of
Traditional public policy of the state has vested large measure of control in matters of property valuation in county government, and the state hereby declares its purpose to continue such policy. However, present statutes and practices thereunder have failed to achieve the measure of uniformity required by the Constitution; the resultant widespread inequality and nonuniformity in valuation of property can and should no longer be tolerated. It thus becomes necessary to require general revaluation of property throughout the state.
(Italics ours.)
In Carkonen v. Williams, 76 Wn.2d 617, 633, 458 P.2d 280 (1969), we stated the requirements of a cyclical program essential to constitutional standards:
In keeping with the import of the Sunday Lake decision [Sunday Lake Iron Co. v. Township of Wakefield, 247 U.S. 350, 62 L. Ed. 1154, 38 S. Ct. 495 (1918)], state courts which have considered cyclical revaluation programs have generally found them to be compatible with constitutional equal protection and uniformity provisions, provided they be carried out systematically and without intentional discrimination.
(Italics ours.) We therein held that in view of the manpower and budgetary problems the assessors were endeavoring to pursue a systematic, nondiscriminatory cyclical approach to revaluation. The facts peculiar to the instant case are incompatible with those facts controlling our decision in the Carkonen case, and therefore cannot support a similar holding.
Thus, where a cyclical program of revaluation is undertaken, a systematic and consistent program of revaluation must be maintained during each year of the cyclical period in a county. This would require that substantially an equal amount of taxable property in a county be revalued in each year of the cyclical program in order that all taxpayers receive the same treatment within the cyclical period to avoid derogation of the equal protection clauses of our federal and state constitutions and the uniformity of taxation clauses of our state constitution.
This piecemeal revaluation has resulted in gross discrimination against the owners of these 27,000 parcels and is reflected not only in the higher taxes on their property for a longer period of time within the cyclical period than against the other taxpayers of the county not revalued, but also could result in a disproportionate millage on their property to which other property in the county not revalued will not be subjected during the cyclical period.
The millage to be levied by the county each year is dependent upon the revenues needed to meet the expenditures of the county, and other tax districts therein for that year.
The legislature was cognizant of this evil and specifically declared this to be one of the reasons why the county assessors must establish and maintain systematic and continuous revaluation programs. Again,
Serious nonuniformity in valuations exists both between similar property within the various taxing districts and between general levels of valuation of the various counties. Such nonuniformity results in inequality in taxation contrary to standards of fairness and uniformity required and established by the Constitution and is of such flagrant and widespread occurrence as to constitute a grave emergency adversely affecting state and local government and the welfare of all the people.
The defendants cite Sunday Lake Iron Co. v. Wakefield, 247 U.S. 350, 62 L. Ed. 1154, 38 S. Ct. 495 (1918), in support of their theory that the revising of the program to include the omitted property in the remaining 3 years of the 4-year cyclical period, would rectify the inequities. This case is not apposite; it involved an erroneous assessment of only one parcel of property by an inexperienced member of the assessor‘s staff and no bad faith was involved, and it was not related to a cyclical program. Other cases cited by counsel did not involve a willful departure from a cyclical program.
In the instant case, we cannot ignore the rights of the complaining taxpayers on the basis that the inequities will
The county assessor‘s revaluation of this small percentage of taxable property in King County placed on the assessment rolls for 1971, the first year of the 4-year cyclical period, was such a radical departure from the programmed plan for revaluation of the taxable property of King County, and was so grossly contrary to the systematic revaluation of taxable property required by the statute, supra, all within the full knowledge of the assessor, that it was inherently arbitrary and capricious conduct. This discriminatory action of the county assessor as to these plaintiffs was in derogation of the equal protection clauses of our federal and state constitutions and the uniformity clause of our state constitution. The increased tax imposed upon these taxpayers, resulting from the revaluation of their property, was therefore void. The judgment of the trial court is reversed, and the county is permanently restrained from the collection of this increased tax for the taxable year of 1971.
The defendants now contend, however, for the first time on appeal, that this is not a class action for the reason that the plaintiff owners of the 27,000 parcels in the phase one area were not given notice under
At the time this court granted temporary relief to these plaintiffs by the entry of its temporary order restraining the defendants from the collection of the above stated increased tax, pending the resolution of this appeal, no objection was made to our granting this relief to these plaintiffs on the grounds that this was not a class action. We hold the defendants have therefore waived their objection that this case is not a class action. In any event, the record shows that at the inception of this case the Honora
The undisputed evidence in this record shows this case is a classic class action falling under the following category of
(a) . . . One or more members of a class may sue or be sued as representative parties on behalf of all only if (1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable, (2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class, (3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class, and (4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class.
(b) . . . An action may be maintained as a class action if the prerequisites of subdivision (a) are satisfied, and in addition:
(2) The party opposing the class has acted or refused to act on grounds generally applicable to the class, thereby making appropriate final injunctive relief or corresponding declaratory relief with respect to the class as a whole; or
There is no dispute in this case that this is an action for injunctive relief under (b)(2), and the decisive issue in the case affects in common every member of the class.
The notice requirement in
Under the facts of this case, we hold that the failure to give the above stated formal notice to these plaintiff owners of the 27,000 parcels is in no manner fatal to their class action for the reason that by our disposition of this case, no rights of these plaintiffs have been prejudiced or adversely affected by their being included in this action. We hold this to be a valid class action and that all the plaintiff owners of the 27,000 parcels in phase one of this 4-year cyclical program are entitled to the relief afforded by this decision.
In view of our disposition of this case, we need not discuss the other contentions of the plaintiffs; however, we find them to be without merit.
The $500 bond required by this court in granting the temporary restraining order shall be returned to the party posting the same.
It is so ordered.
HAMILTON, C.J., FINLEY, ROSELLINI, and HALE, JJ., concur.
FINLEY, J. (concurring specially)—I have signed and concur in the majority opinion. However, I feel constrained to make a brief statement both in response to the dissent by Justice Neill and in support of the majority opinion.
It seems to me unquestionably that taxpayers in the Jacobs area, as pointed out in the majority, are confronted with inequities and lack of uniformity as to their taxes. By the same token, other taxpayers in King County and elsewhere in the state may be confronted with inequities and lack of uniformity in their taxes. These unfortunate results are a consequence of constitutionally questionable practices
In State ex rel. Barlow v. Kinnear, 70 Wn.2d 482, 423 P.2d 937 (1967), this court called the turn on one of these practices; namely, that under our constitution,
NEILL, J. (dissenting)—A critical examination of the relevant facts and circumstances presented by this case convinces me that today‘s majority opinion dictates a result precisely the opposite of what it purports to be—a result which disrupts revaluation programs throughout the state, and which prolongs a condition of property tax favoritism. The beneficiaries of today‘s decision own, at most, 6 per cent of the taxable parcels of real estate in King County. These parcels are in an area of the county which enjoys something of a “tax shelter” in that it generally has not been revalued since 1961, while most of the county has
Prior to the complained-of revaluations, parcels within the “Jacobs” area had a coefficient of dispersion of over 20.1
Owners of the approximately 423,000 parcels outside the “Jacobs” area are, by virtue of the majority decision, subjected to a greater tax burden. Some 22,000 of these were revalued during the same time as the “Jacobs” area parcels. The rest are on the rolls at valuations established in 1963 or later. Many, if not most, have been revalued since 1966. Today‘s result is at the expense of other King County property taxpayers.
To elucidate, taxes are not the result of assessments alone. In fact, under our constitutional scheme of property taxation, the assessment (assessed value) of property is pegged at 50 per cent of true and fair value. Recognizing that the ultimate tax burden is determined by a variable (the millage levied), the people have placed in our constitution a ceiling on permissible millage. This so-called “40 mill tax limit” may be exceeded only by the vote of the electorate within a taxing district. In this connection, it is of interest to note that the current millage levied in the portion of King County containing the “Jacobs” area is almost exactly one-half special levies voted by the people and one-half regular levies established by budgets prepared by the governing bodies of local taxing districts.
The assessed value of property is merely an inventory figure which arises from market factors and not from the action of the electorate or their elected governing bodies. Rather, the ultimate tax burden is established by dividing the aggregate of the assessed value of property in the area into the total revenue demands arising from the budgets of
It is thus apparent that a reduction in tax burden is best achieved by attacking the level of governmental expenditure, both those expenditures approved by direct vote of the electorate and those established by budgetary action of elected representatives. This is the most efficacious approach as it has a direct bearing on all taxpayers in the taxing district. A reduction of assessed value alone, to the extent that it applies to only some of the taxpayers in the area, is unavoidably at the expense of the other taxpayers in the area.
Today‘s decision, operating only to reduce the assessed value of a few of the county‘s tax parcels, leaving the revenue requirements intact as it must, obviously results in the majority of the county‘s taxpayers having to “pick up the slack” in the form of increased taxes on their property.
Plaintiffs do not contend that their taxes derive from assessments exceeding 50 per cent of fair market value; nor is there basis for such contention in the record. Rather, the essence of plaintiffs’ complaint is that their parcels are currently less undervalued than others. From this, it is asserted that the uniformity requirement has been violated. Plaintiffs further contend that equal protection has been denied them in that only their portion of “phase one” of the 4-year revaluation plan was enrolled for 1971 taxes.
Plaintiffs’ position is not entirely equitable. The parcels involved in the “Jacobs” area are the oldest, in terms of assessment, in the county. Land valuations date back to 1961, and building valuations were “crazy quilt” of differing valuation years. Thus, as a general rule, these parcels had a 10-year reprieve between valuations. The record indicates that, during that time, property values in the “Jacobs” area were increasing as much as 8 per cent annually. Yet, assessments remained at the 1961 level while most of the other parcels in the county were taxed upon more recent valuations. In my view, the stronger equities rest with these other parcels.
Prior to the effect of Carkonen v. Williams, supra (i.e., a doubling of the old King County stated ratio from 25 per cent to 50 per cent), property in the “Jacobs” area was at an indicated ratio of 13.79 per cent.
In Carkonen we rejected arguments quite similar to those of plaintiffs‘. There it was asserted that portions of plaintiffs’ taxes were in contravention of constitutional equal protection and uniformity provisions. We said (76 Wn.2d at 625):
As we have noted, the evidence revealed and the trial court so found—indeed it is common knowledge—that the practice of disparate underassessing at the county level is and has been statewide and one indulged in for many years if not, in fact, a carry-over of sorts from territorial days. Although the practice of underassessment, and the inability to effectively bring about a uniform compliance with the constitutionally required assessment ratio, have in a large part contributed to the imbroglio of the state‘s tax structure, nevertheless, the trial court conceived, and we concur, that an abrupt and retroactive application and enforcement of the appropriate assessment ratio would serve no immediate and useful purpose.
With specific reference to the cyclical revaluation statute,
[N]either the King nor Snohomish County Assessors have fully complied with the import of
RCW 84.41.030 . The King County Assessor, by reason of volume of work,limited staffs and budgets, had proceeded on what amounts to a 6 to 8-year cycle of revaluation, depending to some degree on the type of property involved. . . . . . .
The evidence indicates quite clearly that, to the best of their ability, and with their limited staffs, the assessors involved were honestly endeavoring to pursue a systematic nondiscriminatory cyclical approach to revaluation. In this vein it is to be borne in mind that the statute (
RCW 84.41.040 ) requires a physical inspection of each of the parcels revalued and that King County had some 400,000 and Snohomish County some 250,000 parcels subject to revaluation. The sheer physical problem of annually inspecting the units of property involved, coupled with the staff and budgetary allocations required to accomplish such, lends wisdom to the legislative act authorizing and directing a cyclical approach, and virtually lays to rest any viable claim to intentional discrimination inhering in the system.Furthermore, it appears from the evidence that in annually posting their revaluations the assessors were not only following the direction of
RCW 84.40.020 but were also pursuing a statewide practice. And, from the evidence adduced, it is not at all clear that by adopting the “hold back” and “base year” approach advocated by plaintiffs such a system would in fact produce, under the circumstances prevailing, any greater equality than that arising out of the cyclical system. Lastly, the evidence does not disclose any gross or flagrant overvaluations insofar as any of plaintiffs’ properties be concerned. Rather, plaintiffs predicate their attack upon assessment ratios, which in no case equal the 50 per cent ratio required by the constitution, and for the most part show only a disparity between counties and within the school district of approximately 5 per cent.
(Italics mine.) And we discussed the problem of cyclical revaluation in view of equal protection and tax uniformity principles (76 Wn.2d at 632-34):
In Sunday Lake Iron Co. v. Township of Wakefield, 247 U.S. 350, 62 L. Ed. 1154, 38 S. Ct. 495 (1918), in denying relief to a taxpayer claiming an increase in property valuation violated the equal protection clause of the federal constitution, the court stated, at 352:
The purpose of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is to secure every person within the State‘s jurisdiction against intentional and arbitrary discrimination, whether occasioned by express terms of a statute or by its improper execution through duly constituted agents. And it must be regarded as settled that intentional systematic undervaluation by state officials of other taxable property in the same class contravenes the constitutional right of one taxed upon the full value of his property. [Citing case.] It is also clear that mere errors of judgment by officials will not support a claim of discrimination. There must be something more—something which in effect amounts to an intentional violation of the essential principle of practical uniformity. The good faith of such officers and the validity of their actions are presumed; when assailed, the burden of proof is upon the complaining party. [Citing cases.]
The record discloses facts which render it more than probable that plaintiff in error‘s mines were assessed for the year 1911 (but not before or afterwards) relatively higher than other lands within the county although the statute enjoined the same rule for all. But we are unable to conclude that the evidence suffices clearly to establish that the State Board entertained or is chargeable with any purpose or design to discriminate. Its action is not incompatible with an honest effort in new and difficult circumstances to adopt valuations not relatively unjust or unequal.
In keeping with the import of the Sunday Lake decision, state courts which have considered cyclical revaluation programs have generally found them to be compatible with constitutional equal protection and uniformity provisions, provided they be carried out systematically and without intentional discrimination. Hamilton v. Adkins, 250 Ala. 557, 35 So. 2d 183, cert. denied, 335 U.S. 861, 93 L. Ed. 407, 69 S. Ct. 133 (1948); Skinner v. New Mexico State Tax Comm‘n, 66 N.M. 221, 345 P.2d 750, 76 A.L.R.2d 1071 (1959). And, for similar but not identical import, see cases cited and discussed in Tax—Incomplete Equalization Program, Annot., 76 A.L.R.2d 1077 (1959).
This court, too, has considered, in part at least, the problems arising out of a cyclical program in Mason County
The same is true in the instant case.
Accordingly, we conclude that, although each of the assessors involved were precluded by fiscal, personnel, volume, and time considerations from precisely adhering to the statutorily designated cyclical schedule or from conducting annual total revaluation programs, it has not been shown that their honest attempts at compliance resulted in intentional discrimination, arbitrary action, constructive fraud, or grossly and relatively unfair assessments contrary to constitutional provisions relating to equal protection and uniformity.
Finally, we stated (76 Wn.2d at 635):
Again, as to plaintiffs’ contentions, we find no gross or flagrant inequalities, intentional discrimination or constructive fraud springing from the actions of the King County Assessor. Although the practices may not be in strict conformity with the law, they do not render the resultant assessment void. Ballard v. Wooster, 182 Wash. 408, 45 P.2d 511 (1935).
Capsulized, Carkonen establishes that the constitutional 50 per cent requirement is mandatory, but does not require immediate and absolute uniformity. In this latter area, reality intervenes so that constitutional and statutory standards are considered satisfied by a cyclical revaluation program—so long as the program is systematic and without intentional discrimination. There is nothing inherently discriminatory in cyclical revaluation, that is, “intentional dis
Pending the time when technology enables instant, total revaluations, cyclical revaluation on the shortest feasible cycles is the best that can be expected. In Carkonen we recognized that circumstances may be such that even the statutory 4-year cycle cannot be achieved. Such failure does not, ipso facto, void the resulting assessment. Carkonen v. Williams, supra; Ballard v. Wooster, 182 Wash. 408, 45 P.2d 511 (1935). No evidence was adduced in Carkonen, and I find none here, that such alternative approaches as “hold back” and “base year” provide any better equality in tax treatment. Until something better is put forward, the cyclical system is sufficient.
The majority declares that the facts of this case distinguish it from Carkonen, in that the taxes here are grossly discriminatory. In support of this conclusion, the majority observes that the “Jacobs” area consists of only 6 per cent of the total parcels in the county, that the county failed to achieve the goals set for “phase one” in its contract with the state, and that the pace of revaluation in the period involved did not approximate a 4-year cycle.
These practices, though falling short of goals and failing to comply with strict statutory requirements, do not render the resulting assessment void.
In 1966, a King County Assessor‘s staff of 81 appraisers was reassessing 400,000 parcels on a 6 to 8-year cycle. The stated ratio was 23.7 per cent, and the indicated ratio was 19.8 per cent for the county generally, but only 13.79 per cent in the “Jacobs” area. As of January 1, 1970, the assessor‘s office, with a staff of only 60 (plus assistance from the Jacobs Company), was reassessing 450,000 parcels on a 6-year cyclical rate. The stated ratio was 50 per cent, and the indicated ratio was 37.12 per cent generally and 46.83 per cent in the “Jacobs” area. This productivity, better than that upheld in Carkonen, was obtained despite the facts that the assessor‘s office was undertaking a new program and that the program began and was for the most part conducted under the impediment of winter weather. Statis
The focus of revaluation in 1969-70 was upon those areas which had escaped revaluation for the longest period of time. As previously noted, the “Jacobs” area was, in general, the oldest of them all. In addition, there were 10 “spot” areas throughout the county of very old valuations. These were the areas, containing some 22,000 parcels, which the assessor‘s office revalued during this period, and to which the majority refers as “piecemeal revaluation.” I agree that the revaluations were fragmented, but the revaluation was also systematic in the sense, more important than geography, of reassessing the “oldest” valuations first.
In my view, there is no invidious discrimination in the revaluation procedure involved in this case. We observed in Carkonen that a large increase in assessed value is as consistent with prior undervaluation as it is with current overvaluation. The record shows that such is precisely the case here. If there is unfairness, it is that which was imposed upon the other citizens of King County prior to this revaluation, and which the majority reimposes today.
Notes
“Stated ratio” is ratio of assessed value to true and fair value. In Washington this ratio is constitutionally established at 50 per cent. “Assessed value” is the stated ratio expressed in dollars. “Indicated ratio” is a measure of current accuracy of the stated ratio. It expresses the average relationship, on a given date, of the assessed value on the tax rolls to their current true and fair value.
The degree of uniformity of assessments within a tax area is expressed by the “coefficient of dispersion” within that area. The expression is in terms of percentages by which the various parcels within the tax area differ, on the average, from the indicated ratio. See Taxable Property Values, Census of Governments, U.S. Dep‘t of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1967, Vol. 2; Property Taxes in the ‘70s, Dep‘t of Revenue, State of Washington, 1970, p. 137.
The higher the coefficient of dispersion, the greater disparity exists among the taxable parcels in the area. A generally acceptable percentage, denoting a high degree of uniformity, is about 15 per cent. Deviations of more than 20 per cent indicate existence of considerable inequity of tax burden among the individual taxpayers. See Property Revaluation 1970, a Progress Report to the 42d Legislature, Dep‘t of Revenue, State of Washington (1970).
| 1967 taxes | 77.2 mills | |
| 1968 ” | 85.1 ” | |
| 1969 ” | 89.1 ” | |
| 1970 ” | 98.8 ” | |
| 1971 ” | 100.9 ” | (adjusted to pre-1971 measure due to 1970 amendment to |