Newly released property assessments have upriver residents up in arms.

Officials in the Skagit County Assessor’s Office said they aimed for lower assessments this year, knowing that the housing market was in a funk. County appraisals came in at 92 percent of market value instead of the more typical 95 to 97 percent.

Some residents take issue with the county’s math.

Dave Hanson, who owns two houses in Sedro-Woolley, figures the assessments are more like 110 or 120 percent of market value. He bought one of his properties from a bank early in November for $98,500. The county appraised it earlier this year at $132,300 — a 24 percent increase over last year. His other house was assessed at a value 32 percent higher than last year’s.

“(The assessment) is just not the fair market value anymore,” Hanson said. “It’s just too high. Wait till the property taxes hit this year. It’s going to be nasty.”

In the Concrete area, the average property value increased 20 percent in a year when the housing market is down. In most cases, the increase represents four years of increases because most property values around Concrete had not been adjusted for three years.

Dennis Thomas has lived on his five-acre property near Concrete for 35 years. He figures his assessment has gone up more than 50 percent in two years. Officials from the Assessor’s Office have claimed that rural five-acre lots like Thomas’ remain in high demand, which would partially explain the increase.

“I think that would be debatable if you talk to any of the Realtors up here,” Thomas said. Anything in the $200,000 to $400,000 price range “is absolutely not moving,” he said.

“It’s a frozen market. That’s what we want the assessor to take into consideration,” Thomas said. “He should stop looking at the textbook and start taking into account common reason.”

The Assessor’s Office goes by several books — state law, which requires the assessor to aim for 100 percent of fair market value, and international appraisal standards, which allow for assessments as low as 90 percent.

The county aimed toward the low end of that range.

“We saw the market softening and made some adjustments, but I don’t know that statutorily we could have done more than we did and be in compliance,” county Chief Deputy Assessor Wes Hagen said.

Hagen noted that most downriver communities saw little or no change in their property values for next year.

“The average change is probably going to be about 1 percent,” Hagen said, referring to the maximum property tax increase governments are allowed to take.

But that average doesn’t apply to upriver residents, and property-value appeals have been streaming into the county Board of Equalization.

“I do have more appeals earlier in the appeal process than I’ve had before,” said Vickie Brandstrom, clerk of the Board of Equalization. She had received about 225 appeals as of Wednesday. In the last two years, she received about 600 appeals.

Dozens if not hundreds more appeals may be filed after Monday. Top county officials, including upriver commissioner Sharon Dillon, will hold a meeting for residents concerned about their property valuations at Concrete High School at 7 p.m. Monday. Brandstrom is bringing appeal forms.

Thomas, the Concrete resident, asked Dillon to meet with him on Nov. 20. To Dillon’s surprise, 70 or more people showed up and crammed into the Concrete Senior Center to complain about their new valuations.

Dillon arranged for the second meeting to be held during the evening so more people could attend.

Assessor Mark Leander may be there, but he has been limited in his duties by health problems, Hagen said.

The commissioners have said the assessor and his staff need to rethink the high valuations.

Dillon said a large number of appeals may send a message to the Assessor’s Office.

“I’m not going to say I believe they’re off base, but I’d like them to take a second look,” she said.

Commissioner Don Munks believes Leander’s office could have handled the valuations differently.

“(The assessor) has the responsibility to take a look at the present-day situation. As an elected official, the assessor has that flexibility,” Munks said.

Leander could not be reached for comment last week.

By law, the assessments that apply to next year’s property taxes are to be valid on Jan. 1, 2008. That’s before the housing bubble had fully burst, Hagen said.

The current decline in values is likely to be reflected in next year’s assessments for the 2010 tax year, Hagen said.

But lower property values don’t necessarily translate to lower taxes. Governments typically collect a fixed amount of property tax year to year. They have the option of increasing the total tax by 1 percent per year.

Even though property values aren’t always a good predictor of property taxes, those with the largest property value increases will see their taxes go up the most. That means that Sedro-Woolley and communities to the east will bear more of the tax burden next year.

But that’s only fair, Hagen said. Places like Concrete haven’t been paying their share of the countywide property tax for a while.

“The increases they have seen upriver have actually brought them in line with the assessment level in other jurisdictions,” Hagen said. “Are they carrying a bigger burden than everywhere else? It’s more evenly distributed than has been in the last 12 to 14 years.”

• Ralph Schwartz can be reached at 360-416-2138 or .

On the agenda
What: Meeting on 2009 property valuations
Where: Concrete High School
When: 7 p.m. Monday
Who: County Commissioner Sharon Dillon and officials from the Assessor’s Office and the Board of Equalization. Assessment appeal forms will be available.