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Owners of real property in Washington County should have received notices from the County Assessor’s Office informing them of increases in their property’s taxable value.

According to County Assessor Todd Mathes, the notices are an effort to inform taxpayers that their property tax amounts could potentially increase this fall when tax statements are mailed by the county.  In light of the current coronavirus pandemic, Mathes said he was hopeful that his office could give taxpayers some good news concerning their property taxes.

However, the only direction provided by the state concerned the payment of second-half tax amounts from 2019.  Those particular taxpayers have been given an additional thirty days to pay their second half payment without penalties or late fees.

With no changes in state law to prevent any property value increases this year, the Washington County Assessor’s Office followed existing statutory guidelines to prepare valuations for the 2020 assessment roll.  As such, there sustained a need for the office to prepare and print Change of Value notices as they have done in years past.  Mathes agrees that the timing of the annual notices is particularly unfortunate this year with the coronavirus occurrence affecting everyone across the state.

“We wish that we could have held off on sending the notices out, but statutorily there was no provision for that to happen,” he said.

Mathes reminds taxpayers that the Washington County Courthouse is closed to the general public until the state governor’s office lifts the order to close.  If you do receive a notice from the County Assessor, you may respond within thirty days by calling the Assessor’s Office, by fax at 918.337.2893, by going online to countycourthouse.org and leaving contact information for the assessor, or by sending an e-mail to assessor@countycourthouse.org.

Mathes says that all calls, faxes, e-mails, and online communications will be reviewed within 48 hours and the taxpayer will then receive a timely response.  The phone number for the Washington County Assessor’s Office is 918.337.2830. Staff members at the assessor’s office will be on hand