OTHELLO — Qualifications for office, correcting inaccuracies and appealing assessments were among the topics discussed by the candidates running for Adams County Assessor. Incumbent Veronica Rodriguez is being challenged by Curtis Tamplin. 

Both Rodriguez and Tamplin have experience in the assessor’s office, although, Rodriguez said, there is sometimes a misunderstanding about the qualifications. 

Washington law, according to RCW 36.21.015, requires people who value real property for taxation purposes to have accreditation from the Washington Department of Revenue. Assessor’s office employees who are not appraising property are not required to be accredited.  

“You have appraisers in place to do those jobs. Those jobs are something that you supervise as the assessor,” Rodriguez said. “Once all of those properties are valued, you go over that information with your appraisers and make sure they are meeting all the standards, the (building codes), all of the (regulations), all the (state laws), to make sure that those areas are being met and followed by the law. That’s it.” 

Tamplin agreed with her, saying that in Adams County the assessor doesn’t appraise property.  

“There are other people for that,” he said. 

Tamplin said he is an accredited appraiser, and has more than a decade of experience working in an assessor’s office, including Adams County.  

“I was here for about eight and a half years. I didn't like the way things were being done, so I had an opportunity to move to another county, and I moved to another county,” he said. “I've worked under three different assessors in in that 11 and a half years, and I think I've learned a great deal by being under three different people, three different styles of leadership, so that I can I can take the best from each one and apply it to Adams County.” 

The assessor’s office has a small staff, and Tamplin said that can be an asset when working to assess comparable properties.  

“That's the great part of a very small office. We get to communicate a lot, so we can kind of get to the same mindset, so that that two people appraising very similar properties can will come up with very similar results,” he said. “Working as a team is. probably the biggest factor that that makes all of this work.” 

Rodriguez said there are a lot of factors that affect the assessment process. 

“It is not just land and improvements that make value. It is actually businesses, which is personal property. That's a program that needs to be run within the county, and you have to have expertise and education and understand all the laws and regulations that are going to change,” Rodriguez said. “And they sometimes change mid-year, which makes it very hard. That's information that needs to be processed correctly.” 

Some residents qualify for exemption programs, among other things that need to be taken into account, she said. 

“If all of these programs are not being run correctly, the land and the improvements are also not going to be run correctly, which will be detrimental not only to all of the taxpayers, but also to all of the taxing districts,” she said. “That could potentially bankrupt a taxing district if all of these things are not done in a proper manner. So, knowing how to value and do all these other items is just a portion of what needs to be completed for everything to run smoothly within the county.” 

Property values have been significantly affected by inflation, and Both candidates said they would work to help people who think there’s been an assessor’s office error. 

Tamplin said reevaluations recently were mailed to homeowners in the county where he works, and there have been a lot of questions. But, he said, the auditor’s office is bound by state law. 

“I have to follow Department of Revenue rules, and I have to put a value on that house that I believe is a market value,” he said.  

There is an appeals process, he said, and he encouraged people to take advantage of it. 

Rodriguez said property owners should the assessor’s office if they believe their property wasn’t, or isn’t, valued properly. 

“I think first and foremost, it is important for the taxpayers to understand that if they feel that there is a discrepancy, or there is something on their property that is being valued and we're not aware of it, call the office. The only way that we are made aware is if we are notified,” she said. “We run on a six-year cycle. We don't have the staff to physically go out and go onto every single property.” 

She also encouraged people to use the appeal process. 

“We will give you the paperwork to make that process easier for you to go and appeal. We do not handle that portion of it once we cannot come to an agreement. There are items in place. There's a board of equalization,” she said. “You would fill out that information. If you are not happy with that result, you go to the Board of Tax Appeals. It is all explained. That gives both the taxpayer and the assessor's office the opportunity to state why we feel that we are correct or incorrect. If we are incorrect, we take full responsibility for that, and we will make the correction as needed. If we do not feel that we are incorrect, we will provide the information once the Board of Equalization has set a time and approved the (hearing).” 

Rodriguez said she has been working to reduce the chances of inaccurate property records. 

“We've worked very diligently to update cost tables, update all of the improvements, and make sure that we are not just doing market adjustments. We are actually going into each of the parcels,” she said. “We're going and making sure that the businesses are turning in their information correctly. We are making sure the exemption programs, the plats, the BLAs, mosquito assessments, all these different things that intel into all of these items that give us our end result. And making sure that again all of these programs are being ran correctly, and the person running these programs have the knowledge and the ability to make these changes and corrections within the system that we use and following the laws, because without that we will have inaccurate information.” 

Templin said he thinks site visits are crucial for residences. 

“On residential property, the I really feel the most important thing is to actually visit the property, actually get your eyes on what the improvements are,” he said. “There are a lot of factors at play. There's nothing like boots on the ground physically viewing. If you physically view the property, a trained, competent appraiser come up with a value. The other thing is make sure the components of that property, whatever it is, are correct. Talk to the owner and make sure.” 

    Incumbent Veronica Rodriguez and challenger Curtis Templin talked about the role of the auditor in a recent forum for candidates for Adams County offices.