Discussion over assessment issues takes over meeting

During the Tuesday, Feb. 3 meeting of the Wahkiakum County Commissioners, Wahkiakum County resident Jon Thompson presented a letter to the commissioners regarding the Grays River Flood Control District (GRFCD) board and “its relationship to the county and the Board of County Commissioners.” Thompson’s letter states the GRFCD board has made “repeated attempts to assume authority granted to Wahkiakum County and the Board of County Commissioners.” Regarding this “assumption of authority,” Thompson’s letter asks the County Board of Commissioners to consider the actions of the GRFCD board “may place Wahkiakum County at risk through the use of the Assessor’s office to collect funds improperly assessed, and the use of other county offices to disperse the improperly collected funds.”

Disagreeing with Thompson’s letter, GRFCD Board Directors Donnell Dyer, Stephanie Cotka and Judy Johnson presented a letter to the Board of County Commissioners noting they believe there are “several inaccuracies in the letter and do not agree with the listed considerations.” The directors’ letter then went on to give a background and history of GRFCD, including the activity “since the current board was seated.” The letter then states assessments are made “as governed by RCW (Revised Code of Washington) 85.38.150 (in accordance with RCW 86.09).”

Stating in his letter that the GRFCD board “have acted unilaterally and without proper authority to set new assessments on properties inside, and some outside the district,” Thompson feels that, in doing so, they have “compounded the existing errors.”

Disagreeing further with Thompson’s letter, the GRFCD directors stated in their response letter, “The GRFCD directors fully understand the scope of work to be done including prioritization. The work to be done requires patience for accurate data development.” The letter then goes on to allude that Mr. Thompson “may have more time than the current slate of directors to do the work involved, but he did not win his bid for election against current Director Judy Johnson.”

Both Johnson and Thompson spoke during the following Wahkiakum County Commissioners meeting on Feb. 10. Thompson rejected the notion that he had more time, stating that he works a full-time job. Later in the meeting, Thompson said, “They suggest they don't have the time to do it, which, I guess, is clear in the quality of work that's done. There's still multiple properties partially in and partially out of the district that are being assessed improperly. There are parcels outside the district that are still being assessed. There are parcels inside the district that aren't being assessed. The assessment's hard to miss and Director Johnson alluded to the fact that they're trying to sort out partial parcels. If you're trying to sort it out, don't assess it....It's a job for the county, not this board, which is inferior to the county.”

Clarifying that they were asked by the assessor’s office to update the parcels with the base map and “that's what they've been doing for the last two years,” Johnson said, “Going through every parcel, what we determined from that is there were a dozen parcels that were outside the district that were being assessed. They didn't know that. We didn't know that. There were about 50 parcels within the district that weren't being levied. They were assessed but not levied. It wasn't on their tax bills. I was one of them...Those have been taken care of. They've all been brought up to date.”

Describing further the GRFCD board’s role, Johnson said, “We are here to be basically an insurance policy. The constituents who are inside the district pay a nominal tax and it's divided into two categories that were established a long time ago. Our priorities are not to do any changes within the district with assessments or take a great deal of time other than the base map to bring the district up to current. As of 2013, there were no updates within the county or the district, so when the three of us stepped in, we had a lot of catching up to do. We're still catching up. We have a priority list. That's been our main item to do; to bring the district current.”

In response to Johnson’s “insurance policy” comment, Thompson said, “That does not seem to be what was intended by the legislature when they created the chapters; authorizing these special districts or flood control districts. It seems to be that the legislature envisioned districts that would conduct projects of their own. Assessments would be based on projects that they did. There's no indication that the intent of the legislature was that districts would pay private property owners for repair for maintenance of their property, which is what is actually occurring.”

In response to Thompson’s original letter, Johnson, during the Feb. 10 meeting, said, “We've also only had this one tax complaint from Mr. Thompson in the time the district has been in existence. If you multiply 85 years times the number of people who are participating, you come up with 16,800 possibilities. He's one. The Washington State Assessors have given us a clean bill of health. We collectively disagree with the complaint letter.”

Wahkiakum County Commissioner and Chair Dan Cothren notified Thompson that his letter has been turned over to prosecutor Dan Bigelow, who said, "There's some issues that need to be taken care of." Addressing Thompson, Cothren said, “Let's see what he comes up with."

Following Thompson and Johnson’s comments, resident Jo Schenotala, concurring with Thompson, said, “What's different this year is that the flood control district is taxing entire properties. This is new. Our property is only half in it. They're going ahead and taxing all of our property. All sorts of people might not be aware of it until they get their taxes. I think it's illegal to be doing this.”

In support of both Johnson and the GRFCD, resident Carol Larson said, “Farmland is rapidly disappearing in this country. In my observation, the current group of Grays River Flood Control District commissioners is absolutely the most dedicated, hard working group of commissioners that the district has ever had. They are working to bring everything up to legal status, including identification of land and classifications for tax purposes.”

Commissioner Mark Letham, whose duties include being the county’s liaison for the GRFCD, asked for clarification that the GRFCD is a junior taxing district. County Auditor Nicci Bergseng, in attendance at the Feb. 10 meeting, confirmed the GRFCD as a junior taxing district. During the Feb. 17 meeting of the Wahkiakum County Commissioners, Letham, during his commissioners report, said of the issue, “We still have a lot of questions up in the air on tax assessments that we will be working with Dan Bigelow on.”