Vote for Bill Spencer (GOP) in 2010
Benton County Assessor
Benton County Assessor
Richland's Spencer has BBQ to announce run for assessorBy John Trumbo, Herald staff writerRICHLAND -
- Bill Spencer is ready to make the big move, from a job in the Franklin County Assessor's Office to seeking election as Benton County assessor this fall.
The 32-year-old Richland resident announced his candidacy Thursday with a barbecue in Howard Amon Park.
Married with four children, Spencer is making his first bid at elected office. He is running as a Republican and is a member of the Benton County Republicans.
"People have encouraged me to run," he said, noting that after working two years as a commercial appraiser in the Franklin County Assessor's Office he has some ideas on how to improve the Benton County operation.
"I want to make assessments fair and equitable. I want to be the public's advocate," Spencer said. He said the office has had trouble keeping up with new construction and he would work to make the office more efficient. He also promises he would provide more staff training.
One priority would be to bring more current computer technology to the assessor's office, said Spencer, who graduated from Richland High School in 1996 and studied business at Columbia Basin College in Pasco and Washington State University Tri-Cities.
His community involvement includes becoming an Eagle Scout by setting up a soccer field at Columbia Basin College, and being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He also has participated in the tea party movement, campaigned for a constitutional group called Liberty and is a member of the Richland Housing and Community Development Advisory Committee.
Spencer said his 14 years of appraisal experience includes founding an appraisal business in the Tri-Cities and being an appraiser in Nevada, where he also was a licensed loan originator. He became an accredited Washington state appraiser in 2008.
Spencer has a website at www.voteforbill.net that includes his personal and professional history and explains how the office of a county assessor works.
He was the first to file on Nov. 2 with the state Public Disclosure Commission as a declared candidate. There are three candidates to date: Spencer, incumbent Barbara Wagner and Tammy McKiernan, who works in the assessor's office.
Spencer reported having received $14,875 in donations as of June 2. McKiernan reported having $1,610, and Wagner listed $2,000 as a personal loan as of May 8.
Formal filing of candidate papers begins Monday.
* John Trumbo: 509-582-1529; jtrumbo@tricityherald.com
Read more: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/06/04/1041140/richlands-spencer-has-bbq-to-announce.html?storylink=addthis#ixzz0qIqZVNiu
- Bill Spencer is ready to make the big move, from a job in the Franklin County Assessor's Office to seeking election as Benton County assessor this fall.
The 32-year-old Richland resident announced his candidacy Thursday with a barbecue in Howard Amon Park.
Married with four children, Spencer is making his first bid at elected office. He is running as a Republican and is a member of the Benton County Republicans.
"People have encouraged me to run," he said, noting that after working two years as a commercial appraiser in the Franklin County Assessor's Office he has some ideas on how to improve the Benton County operation.
"I want to make assessments fair and equitable. I want to be the public's advocate," Spencer said. He said the office has had trouble keeping up with new construction and he would work to make the office more efficient. He also promises he would provide more staff training.
One priority would be to bring more current computer technology to the assessor's office, said Spencer, who graduated from Richland High School in 1996 and studied business at Columbia Basin College in Pasco and Washington State University Tri-Cities.
His community involvement includes becoming an Eagle Scout by setting up a soccer field at Columbia Basin College, and being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He also has participated in the tea party movement, campaigned for a constitutional group called Liberty and is a member of the Richland Housing and Community Development Advisory Committee.
Spencer said his 14 years of appraisal experience includes founding an appraisal business in the Tri-Cities and being an appraiser in Nevada, where he also was a licensed loan originator. He became an accredited Washington state appraiser in 2008.
Spencer has a website at www.voteforbill.net that includes his personal and professional history and explains how the office of a county assessor works.
He was the first to file on Nov. 2 with the state Public Disclosure Commission as a declared candidate. There are three candidates to date: Spencer, incumbent Barbara Wagner and Tammy McKiernan, who works in the assessor's office.
Spencer reported having received $14,875 in donations as of June 2. McKiernan reported having $1,610, and Wagner listed $2,000 as a personal loan as of May 8.
Formal filing of candidate papers begins Monday.
* John Trumbo: 509-582-1529; jtrumbo@tricityherald.com
Read more: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/06/04/1041140/richlands-spencer-has-bbq-to-announce.html?storylink=addthis#ixzz0qIqZVNiu
Benton assessor: Spencer
I recently bundled my three small children and took them to their first political meeting: a kickoff barbecue for Bill Spencer, a family friend and candidate for Benton County assessor. Honestly, I went because I was interested in a break from cooking, but instead I was impressed with the professionalism and civic-mindedness Bill exudes at an age when other men would be content to let politics pass them by.
Bill's ability to pinpoint weaknesses in the assessor's office and his willingness to find solutions instead of complaints is inspiring. If a man with a full-time job, an active church life and four kids under 7 can make the time to passionately campaign for an overlooked office, don't we, as concerned citizens, owe our community a glance at his and other candidates' platforms? (See Bill's at voteforbill.net.) I gained from Bill not only a better understanding of why I should care who is assessing property values and how they do it, but also an invigoration to make a difference in my own city, even while chasing after my young children. I'm not a resident of Benton County, but if I were, I'd be voting for the enthusiasm, knowledge and energy of Bill Spencer.
Rebekah Orton, Pasco
Bill's ability to pinpoint weaknesses in the assessor's office and his willingness to find solutions instead of complaints is inspiring. If a man with a full-time job, an active church life and four kids under 7 can make the time to passionately campaign for an overlooked office, don't we, as concerned citizens, owe our community a glance at his and other candidates' platforms? (See Bill's at voteforbill.net.) I gained from Bill not only a better understanding of why I should care who is assessing property values and how they do it, but also an invigoration to make a difference in my own city, even while chasing after my young children. I'm not a resident of Benton County, but if I were, I'd be voting for the enthusiasm, knowledge and energy of Bill Spencer.
Rebekah Orton, Pasco
MID-COLUMBIA NEWS Published Monday, December 31st, 2007
JOE CHAPMAN HERALD STAFF WRITER
Franklin County residents will begin seeing their properties reassessed by the county assessor's office every year starting in 2008. The frequency will be a change from the assessor's previous schedule of re-evaluating a quarter of the properties once every four years. "It promotes uniformity for all taxpayers so you don't have one area of taxpayers paying on a value that's different from another area of taxpayers," said Franklin County Assessor Steve Marks.
While some may cringe at the thought of annual reassessments, Marks said the upside is that the changes in value should be less abrupt. For instance, instead of a property value staying flat for three years, then going up 40 percent in the fourth year, it may increase 10 percent each of the four years. Adjusting values annually makes the value changes more predictable for residents, Marks said."That's one of the big issues in a lot of the property tax initiatives that go around: People want predictability in property tax," he said.
John Gurtisen, who lives in the 2600 block of West Margaret Street in Pasco, said he wouldn't have any complaints about annual reassessments. He expects to see increases in his property values because of the improvements he has made, he said. This year, he spent $10,000 installing a new roof, fence and shed. Even on a four-year schedule, the assessor's office typically would re-evaluate properties the same year improvements were made, Marks said.
Gary Hart, a farmer outside of Connell, said his concern is that the assessor's office wouldn't be as quick to lower values in a downturn as it would be to increase them. Crop values are factored into farmland values in Franklin County, and the crop prices can be especially volatile, Hart pointed out. Marks said his office would be just as responsive to downturns as increases."Whatever the market says, we'll respond. And if it goes down, we'll go down," he said.
Benton County residents already have had their properties reassessed annually for more than a decade. In all, 18 Washington counties are on annual reassessments, and 19 reassess values once every four years. Douglas and San Juan counties reassess values once every two years and three years, respectively. Walla Walla County is making the transition to annual reassessments at the same time as Franklin County. "It makes sense to do it now", Marks said, because in another couple of years, all counties likely will have to make the transition anyway.
The Washington State Association of County Assessors is proposing legislation for the next session to require the switch by 2010. "I don't think any county, really, if they had their choice, would say, 'No, I want to keep it the same way that it is,' " said Dave Cook, Yakima County assessor and legislative chair for the association. "There's efficiency to be gained as well by having us all do it the same."
More counties haven't already switched to annual assessments because of the costs involved with the transition, Cook said. The proposed legislation would provide money to help counties make the change. Perhaps a key reason to assess values annually is that doing so will help keep them closer to the actual market values. Each year, counties are rated on how closely their assessments match what properties actually sell for. The goal is 100 percent accuracy, but that's rarely attained, Marks said.
In 2005, Franklin County's assessments were 82 percent of the market values.The percentage, regarded as a ratio, determines how much of the tax levy the counties get from taxes on state-assessed properties. Those taxes are paid by service corporations such as airlines, communications companies and gas companies with holdings in the county. In 2008, service corporations will be exempted from paying taxes on $17.9 million of their holdings in Franklin County because of the county's relatively low assessment ratio. Marks called the trend a tax shift, because the county's residents end up bearing more of the tax burden when the corporations are spared.
If the county can improve its assessment ratio, that tax burden would be shifted from residents back onto the corporations, he said. The ratio also is used in setting the state school levy rate for that county. The higher the ratio, the less residents pay to the state school levy. In Franklin County this year, residents paid $2.40 per $1,000 of assessed property value to the state school levy.
Franklin County residents will begin seeing their properties reassessed by the county assessor's office every year starting in 2008. The frequency will be a change from the assessor's previous schedule of re-evaluating a quarter of the properties once every four years. "It promotes uniformity for all taxpayers so you don't have one area of taxpayers paying on a value that's different from another area of taxpayers," said Franklin County Assessor Steve Marks.
While some may cringe at the thought of annual reassessments, Marks said the upside is that the changes in value should be less abrupt. For instance, instead of a property value staying flat for three years, then going up 40 percent in the fourth year, it may increase 10 percent each of the four years. Adjusting values annually makes the value changes more predictable for residents, Marks said."That's one of the big issues in a lot of the property tax initiatives that go around: People want predictability in property tax," he said.
John Gurtisen, who lives in the 2600 block of West Margaret Street in Pasco, said he wouldn't have any complaints about annual reassessments. He expects to see increases in his property values because of the improvements he has made, he said. This year, he spent $10,000 installing a new roof, fence and shed. Even on a four-year schedule, the assessor's office typically would re-evaluate properties the same year improvements were made, Marks said.
Gary Hart, a farmer outside of Connell, said his concern is that the assessor's office wouldn't be as quick to lower values in a downturn as it would be to increase them. Crop values are factored into farmland values in Franklin County, and the crop prices can be especially volatile, Hart pointed out. Marks said his office would be just as responsive to downturns as increases."Whatever the market says, we'll respond. And if it goes down, we'll go down," he said.
Benton County residents already have had their properties reassessed annually for more than a decade. In all, 18 Washington counties are on annual reassessments, and 19 reassess values once every four years. Douglas and San Juan counties reassess values once every two years and three years, respectively. Walla Walla County is making the transition to annual reassessments at the same time as Franklin County. "It makes sense to do it now", Marks said, because in another couple of years, all counties likely will have to make the transition anyway.
The Washington State Association of County Assessors is proposing legislation for the next session to require the switch by 2010. "I don't think any county, really, if they had their choice, would say, 'No, I want to keep it the same way that it is,' " said Dave Cook, Yakima County assessor and legislative chair for the association. "There's efficiency to be gained as well by having us all do it the same."
More counties haven't already switched to annual assessments because of the costs involved with the transition, Cook said. The proposed legislation would provide money to help counties make the change. Perhaps a key reason to assess values annually is that doing so will help keep them closer to the actual market values. Each year, counties are rated on how closely their assessments match what properties actually sell for. The goal is 100 percent accuracy, but that's rarely attained, Marks said.
In 2005, Franklin County's assessments were 82 percent of the market values.The percentage, regarded as a ratio, determines how much of the tax levy the counties get from taxes on state-assessed properties. Those taxes are paid by service corporations such as airlines, communications companies and gas companies with holdings in the county. In 2008, service corporations will be exempted from paying taxes on $17.9 million of their holdings in Franklin County because of the county's relatively low assessment ratio. Marks called the trend a tax shift, because the county's residents end up bearing more of the tax burden when the corporations are spared.
If the county can improve its assessment ratio, that tax burden would be shifted from residents back onto the corporations, he said. The ratio also is used in setting the state school levy rate for that county. The higher the ratio, the less residents pay to the state school levy. In Franklin County this year, residents paid $2.40 per $1,000 of assessed property value to the state school levy.
