The Kootenai County Assessor’s Office needs leadership that employees and taxpayers can count on. 

That’s what Allyson Knapp believes. She believes, too, that she’s the right choice to be that leader, as a former chief deputy assessor for Kootenai County with 30 years of appraisal experience. 

Knapp is challenging Kootenai County Assessor Bèla Kovacs in the May 19 Republican primary election. Kovacs did not respond to requests for an interview. 

After leaving her position in the assessor’s office in 2022, Knapp said she carefully considered whether to run for office. She said she ultimately decided to run at the urging of community members and because she believes she can use her experience to meet the needs of the office. 

“Because I was the chief deputy, I know the administrative side of this, and because I’m an appraiser, I know the technical side of this,” she said in a sit-down interview with The Press. “I believe the office really trusts me. I just want to do the best job I can, not only for (the staff) but for the taxpayer.” 

If elected, Knapp said she’ll focus on rebuilding strong working relationships with other county departments and with the state, which she said have eroded over the past six years. 

“You can’t make yourself an island,” she said. 

Improving customer service is a top priority, she said, as is increasing the number of appraisers assigned to Post Falls, Rathdrum and Coeur d’Alene. 

“You have two appraisers out there trying to do all of that reevaluation, plus get all that new construction on the roll,” she said. “I don’t know how two people are pulling this off.” 

Knapp said she believes processes within the assessor’s office can be streamlined and improved, but quality and accuracy shouldn’t be sacrificed for the sake of efficiency. The judgment and knowledge of experienced appraisals can’t be automated, she said. 

“You need human eyes,” she said. “You need to know the neighborhoods. You need to know what the market is doing in a certain area. Coeur d’Alene is not the same as Post Falls and vice versa.” 

Knapp said her experience and her commitment to accuracy are some of her biggest strengths. She said she’s mindful of the office’s impact on residents. 

“When we have mistakes in the assessor’s office, it ends up costing us money as taxpayers,” she said.