ANACORTES — Anacortes residents could see their home assessments drop as much as 10 percent this year when letters arrive from the Skagit County Assessor’s Office.

The trend in home values has been downward throughout the county, said Wes Hagen, Skagit County’s chief deputy assessor.

“In comparison to the previous year, on average, values are down about 7, 8 percent,” he said. “There are going to be a lot of notices out that have value reductions in the neighborhood of 10 percent.”

Homeowners will find out how their home’s value fared when they receive letters from the county announcing new property values. Assessments should be mailed in the next couple weeks.

This year, assessors did physical inspections in Mount Vernon and Conway in the first seven months of the year. Hagen said assessors have been working on new construction since then.

“We’ve kind of squeezed in a computer conversion in between,” he said.

Because of a new computer system, the Assessor’s Office is going through a new process to mail assessments. It is contracting with The Master’s Touch to send out notices.

“We’re just waiting on the contract to come back so we can go ahead and notify them to send out the notices,” said Don Munks, Skagit County assessor.

Instead of a postcard, residents will get a letter that includes typical assessed value information for their home on one side and information on property taxes on the other.

“We’ve been able to add on the back of the page some fairly explanatory information on how property tax works,” Hagen said. “I think that’s a positive to help people understand property tax better.”

Anacortes was physically inspected in 2007 and its assessed value went up nearly 20 percent, increasing from about $4.342 billion to about $5.275 billion. The value is for all properties in the Anacortes School District boundaries, including residential land and commercial property, such as the refineries. The assessed value increase was an accumulation of what happened over the past few years.

Last year, Skyline residents saw a small dip in their home’s assessed value, but others in Anacortes didn’t see much change. Even with the slow economy, most Anacortes home values remained steady, Hagen said at the time.

During off years the county uses a cost estimator to determine increases or decreases in assessed value. This year, the estimator takes into account the local sales market from Aug. 1, 2008 to March 30, 2009.

Not everyone will see a double-digit decrease, Hagen said.

“Some markets really have not had a downward trend,” he said.

Waterfront properties, for example, are still holding up in Skagit County as well as Snohomish County and other areas.

Anacortes’ Old Town will see some reduction but in terms of assessment level they are pretty much where they should he, Hagen said.

“They won’t see as much as some other areas,” he said.

The drop in Skyline should be in the 10 percent range.

“In Skyline there is a lot of sales data. We’re able to track that market quite well because we have the information,” Hagen said.

Having sales data helps assessors determine value.

“Having lots of sales comparables gives you a better opportunity to really see what the market’s doing,” Munks said. “That gives you a pretty good idea.”

Munks is waiting for final approval from the Department of Revenue to go back to a six-year physical inspection cycle. The county is currently on a four-year cycle.

“It lessens the load on the appraisers for the parcels they have to physically look at,” he said.

If approved, Burlington will be physically inspected next followed by La Conner and Conway. Anacortes would be physically inspected in 2012 for taxes payable in 2013.

After losing more than five employees in the department, Munks and Hagen said the change will allow the county to continue to do a good job inspecting homes.

“We value the quality of the inspection work more than just pumping this stuff out,” Hagen said.

Other counties do “drive-by” inspections.

“There’s a lot of details you don’t get,” he said.

Here, Hagen said assessors actually get out and look at homes, introducing themselves if residents are home.

Munks said the focus is on being fair.

“The bottom line is you’re wanting to be as fair and equitable as you can possibly be to ensure that everybody pays their fair amount of taxes,” Munks said. “We try to do a quality job in the areas we’re doing.”