BP BHEAD INT S

AN ACT Relating to property tax administration; amending RCW 84.33.130, 84.40.080, and 84.52.018; and adding a new section to chapter 84.34 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 84.33.130 and 1994 c 301 s 32 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) An owner of land desiring that it be designated as forest land and valued pursuant to RCW 84.33.120 as of January 1 of any year shall make application to the county assessor before such January 1. The owner shall include with the application a reasonable processing fee if the fee is established by the county legislative authority.

(2) The application shall be made upon forms prepared by the department of revenue and supplied by the county assessor, and shall include the following:

(a) A legal description of or assessor's tax lot numbers for all land the applicant desires to be designated as forest land;

(b) The date or dates of acquisition of such land;

(c) A brief description of the timber on such land, or if the timber has been harvested, the owner's plan for restocking;

(d) Whether there is a forest management plan for such land;

(e) If so, the nature and extent of implementation of such plan;

(f) Whether such land is used for grazing;

(g) Whether such land has been subdivided or a plat filed with respect thereto;

(h) Whether such land and the applicant are in compliance with the restocking, forest management, fire protection, insect and disease control and forest debris provisions of Title 76 RCW or any applicable regulations thereunder;

(i) Whether such land is subject to forest fire protection assessments pursuant to RCW 76.04.610;

(j) Whether such land is subject to a lease, option or other right which permits it to be used for any purpose other than growing and harvesting timber;

(k) A summary of the past experience and activity of the applicant in growing and harvesting timber;

(l) A summary of current and continuing activity of the applicant in growing and harvesting timber;

(m) A statement that the applicant is aware of the potential tax liability involved when such land ceases to be designated as forest land;

(n) An affirmation that the statements contained in the application are true and that the land described in the application is, by itself or with other forest land not included in the application, in contiguous ownership of twenty or more acres which is primarily devoted to and used for growing and harvesting timber.

The assessor shall afford the applicant an opportunity to be heard if the application so requests.

(3) The assessor shall act upon the application with due regard to all relevant evidence and without any one or more items of evidence necessarily being determinative, except that the application may be denied for one of the following reasons, without regard to other items:

(a) The land does not contain either a "merchantable stand of timber" or an "adequate stocking" as defined by rule adopted by the forest practices board, except this reason (a) shall not alone be sufficient for denial of the application (i) if such land has been recently harvested or supports a growth of brush or noncommercial type timber, and the application includes a plan for restocking within three years or such longer period necessitated by unavailability of seed or seedlings, or (ii) if only isolated areas within such land do not meet such minimum standards due to rock outcroppings, swamps, unproductive soil or other natural conditions;

(b) The applicant, with respect to such land, has failed to comply with a final administrative or judicial order with respect to a violation of the restocking, forest management, fire protection, insect and disease control and forest debris provisions of Title 76 RCW or any applicable regulations thereunder;

(c) The land abuts a body of salt water and lies between the line of ordinary high tide and a line paralleling such ordinary high tide line and two hundred feet horizontally landward therefrom, except that if the higher and better use determined by the assessor to exist for such land would not be permitted or economically feasible by virtue of any federal, state or local law or regulation such land shall be assessed and valued pursuant to the procedures set forth in RCW 84.33.110 and 84.33.120 without being designated. The application shall be deemed to have been approved unless, prior to May 1, of the year after such application was mailed or delivered to the assessor, the assessor shall notify the applicant in writing of the extent to which the application is denied.

(4) An owner who receives notice pursuant to subsection (3) of this section that his or her application has been denied may appeal such denial to the county board of equalization.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 84.34 RCW to read as follows:

If approval of an application for classification or reclassification under RCW 84.34.020 (1), (2) or (3) results in the incorrect classification of a parcel of land the assessor may place the property in the correct classification. Such a correction shall not be considered a withdrawal or removal and is not subject to additional tax under RCW 84.34.108. The assessor will notify the landowner of any correction of classification.

Sec. 3. RCW 84.40.080 and 1995 c 134 s 14 are each amended to read as follows:

An assessor shall enter on the assessment roll in any year any property shown to have been omitted from the assessment roll of any preceding year, at the value for the preceding year, or if not then valued, at such value as the assessor shall determine for the preceding year, and such value shall be stated separately from the value of any other year. Where improvements have not been valued and assessed as a part of the real estate upon which the same may be located, as evidenced by the assessment rolls, they may be separately valued and assessed as omitted property under this section. No such assessment shall be made in any case where a bona fide purchaser((~~, encumbrancer,~~)) or contract buyer has acquired any interest in said property prior to the time such improvements are assessed. When such an omitted assessment is made, the taxes levied thereon may be paid within one year of the due date of the taxes for the year in which the assessment is made without penalty or interest. In the assessment of personal property, the assessor shall assess the omitted value not reported by the taxpayer as evidenced by an inspection of either the property or the books and records of said taxpayer by the assessor.

Sec. 4. RCW 84.52.018 and 1994 c 124 s 37 are each amended to read as follows:

Whenever any property value or claim for exemption or cancellation of a property assessment is appealed to the county board of equalization, state board of tax appeals, or court of competent jurisdiction and the dollar difference between the total value asserted by the taxpayer and the total value asserted by the opposing party exceeds one-fourth of one percent of the total assessed value of property in the county, the assessor shall use only that portion of the total value which is not in controversy for purposes of computing the levy rates and extending the tax on the tax roll in accordance with this chapter, unless the state board of tax appeals has issued its determination at the time of extending the tax.

When the state board of tax appeals or court of competent jurisdiction makes its final determination, the proper amount of tax shall be extended and collected for each taxing district if this has not already been done. The amount of tax collected and extended shall include interest at the rate of nine percent per year on the amount of the board's final determination minus the amount not in controversy. The interest shall accrue from the date the taxes on the amount not in controversy were first due and payable. Any amount extended in excess of that permitted by chapter 84.55 RCW shall be held in abeyance and used to reduce the levy rates of the next succeeding levy.