KING COUNTY, Wash. — A new report from the King County Auditor’s Office found that the Department of Assessments fell months behind on reviewing applications for property tax exemptions for seniors, people with disabilities and disabled veterans.
The report, which was presented to the King County Council’s Government Accountability and Oversight committee on Tuesday, found that applicants waited eight months for decisions in 2020 — wait times twice as long as in 2019.
“The Assessor’s Office faced extraordinary circumstances in 2020 which made operations difficult and negatively impacted customers,” said King County Auditor Kymber Waltmunson.
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These circumstances include a mandatory transition to remote work and a threefold increase in applications after the income threshold for eligibility increased.
The Assessor’s Office has since made increases in the speed at which they process applications, but it still had a backlog of 3,782 new applications by the end of 2021.
The Auditor’s report recommends several strategies for the DOA to improve customer experience and handle the increased workload, including increasing oversight and implementing policies and procedures to comply with state rules for exemption renewals.
More than 26,000 qualified seniors and disabled persons have yet to register for a property tax exemption in King County, according to the Assessor’s office.
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