Latah County's soaring real estate market means many residential property owners will see significant increases in their property assessments - in many cases by at least 20 percent - when assessment notices are mailed in early June.
Latah County Assessor Patrick Vaughan said this does not mean those seeing large increases will have a corresponding increase in their property tax bill. Vaughan said he anticipates most property owners will see an increase in their property tax bills this year since taxing districts generally increase their property tax budgets annually, but some owners could see a decrease in their property tax bills if, for example, they receive a modest 5 percent assessment increase.
While taxing districts' property tax budgets generally spike each year, new construction in Latah County is increasing the tax base, which pushes levy rates down, Vaughan said. He said this tends to result in lower property tax bills.
Property assessments reflect the value of each parcel of property in the county and are used to determine each property owner's share of the annual property taxes levied for services in their tax code area. County officials assess all property as of Jan. 1 each year. Assessments are based on verified sales and appraisal data from the previous year. Appraisers visit and re-appraise each property every five years. By law, properties are adjusted, or "indexed," to market value in the intervening years if sales data indicate assessments are too low or too high.
Residential property was by far the most active sector of real estate in Latah County. There were 428 homes sold in 2017. Residences across most areas of Latah County will see significant increases in assessed market value.
There were 222 Moscow residences sold in 2017 at an average price of $250,893. Homeowners in Moscow should expect a 15 to 20 percent 2018 assessment increase.
There were 21 multi-family Moscow residences sold in 2017 at an average of $235,905, and it is estimated owners will see a 10 to 20 percent assessment increase.
Commercial land was sold at higher prices in Moscow in 2017 than 2016 and continues to sell for even more in 2018. Many commercial property owners will see a corresponding 20 percent increase in assessed market value of the land.
There will be modest increases of less than 5 percent for agricultural land assessments, and a 5 percent increase for land designated as forest land.
For more information, call the Assessor's Office at (208) 883-5710, or email assessor@latah.id.us.
Garrett Cabeza can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to gcabeza@dnews.com.
