Cali Bagby photo
INSIDE
The end of an era – Lopez Liquor Store is closing its doors. Read more on page 6.
Energy Matters
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Winter solstice concert
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A look at the candidates
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www.islandsweekly.com 360-468-4242 • 800-654-6142
Islander
Resort
Family owned since 1997
Join us for New Years Eve Prime Rib Dinner Special
Reservations Required Open til 10pm for dinner
New Year‛s Eve Party at the Tiki Lounge Complimentary Champagne and party Favors! Featuring DJ Dustin
2013
Lopez Island Community Church invites the community to attend Regular Sunday service
Sunday, December 23, 2012 at 10:30 am
Christmas Eve Service
Monday, December 24, 2012 at 5:30 pm
For more information please contact 468-3877 Lopez Center
Celtic / Balkan, Seasonal Stories
Friday, December 21st, 7:30pm Stanley Greenthal Ensemble Winter Solstice Concert Stanley and Kip Greenthal, with special guests Jamie Laval and Christos Govetas
The
Islands’ eekly W
VOLUME 35, NUMBER 51 • December 18, 2012
San Juan Islands lose $1.7 billion in combined property value By Steve Wehrly Journal reporter
The assessed value of all properties in San Juan County dropped by a combined $1.7 billion for 2013, an average of 21.4 percent, according to initial reports released by the county assessor. Most property owners will see the assessed value of their property go down in 2013, but many assessments on Orcas Island went down even further- by more than 30 percent. “That’s due to the fact that those properties were last appraised in 2008 at the top of the market,” Assessor Charles Zalmanek said. The only properties in the county with an increased assessed value, Zalmanek adds, are “several large condominium boat slips at Capron’s Landing.” He went on to explain that extreme adjustments would be unlikely to occur
in the future because county appraisers will be reassessing the entire county every year, instead of every three years, using new statistical methods being implemented statewide by the Department of Revenue. “In addition, we’ll be doing on-site physical assessments on one-sixth of county properties every year,” Zalmanek said. The percentage drop in assessed values averages 18 percent on most of San Juan Island, but Friday Harbor properties saw a 21 percent drop. Because Lopez Island was recently assessed, the average reduction for most of that island was only 9 percent. Shaw Island assessments decreased by almost 22 percent. Property assessments for 2013 began arriving last week in the mail. The downward trend of assessments doesn’t mean your property tax bill
will be reduced, however. Under state law, the property tax levy rates are adjusted to produce a certain amount of revenue: if the assessed valuation goes down, the rate goes up to raise the same amount of money as in the previous year, plus a maximum of one percent as provided by state law. The converse is also true: if the assessed valuation rises, the rate (expressed as a “mil” so many cents per thousand dollars of valuation) should go down, but the amount of property tax will usually remain the same, absent tax increases or reductions provided by law. In fact, some properties may actually see their tax
See tax, page 2
County residents challenge Prop. 1, 2 , 3 By Scott Rasmussen Journal editor
Three islanders are challenging the legality of voter-approved changes to the county charter, as well as
Steve Horn photo
Adult tickets/$15 Youth/$6; 5 yrs. & under free
You’re invited to a traditional Christmas Eve Service at Center Church Pastor Anne Hall
Service at 11:00 p.m. Your Lopez friends at the Lutheran Church in the San Juans
bills rise in 2013 because of technical differences between countywide tax levies and local taxing districts covering only parts of counties. In addition, tax bills on Lopez Island will rise because Lopezians voted in favor of a property tax levy to fund operations of the new Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District. Do lower assessments mean that home prices will also go down? “No,” said Gary Franklin, managing partner at Windermere Real Estate in Friday Harbor.The terms appraised value and assessed value are frequently used interchangeably by home buyers and sellers but the differences make for an
Donations will be gratefully accepted to the Lopez Food Bank and the Grace Church Organ Fund.
state law, in a lawsuit filed last week in a Skagit County courtroom. The lawsuit was filed Dec. 4 by Friday Harbor Attorney Stephanie O’Day, on behalf of Jeffrey Bossler of Orcas Island, San Juan’s Michael Carlson and Jerrold Gonce of Lopez. The lawsuit contends that because the three legislative districts created by Proposition 1 are “grossly unequal” in population that voters and county council candidates residing in those districts will be treated unequally if countywide council elections, also ushered in by Prop. 1, become the norm. “The grossly unequal district sizes established by Proposition 1 result in disparate and unequal treatment of San Juan County voters,” the lawsuit asserts. “The change in county government caused by this measure results in differential treatment of citizens within each district of the county.” For example, the lawsuit See challenge, page 8