Each year the governing authority of each taxing district meets in open session to determine the amount of taxes to be collected the following year. Once the budget has been adopted, the amount of taxes to be collected is certified to the County Assessor who verifies it is within the statutory and constitutional limits.
The Assessor determines the levy rate required to equal the budget for each district. The formula to determine the levy rate is:
Taxing District Budget ÷ Taxing District Assessed Value x 1,000 = Levy Rate
An individual property is located in multiple taxing districts. In order to provide a single tax statement for a property, a Tax Code Area (TCA) is assigned based on location. In Kitsap County there are currently 43 taxing districts and over 100 tax code areas. A TCA is a geographical area in which local entities such as a city, county, school, or fire district may assess taxes to sustain its operations and provide public services. These combined taxing districts make up a TCA. The individual levy rates for each taxing district within a TCA are added together for a consolidated tax rate. The consolidated rate of the TCA is applied to the assessed value of each property within the TCA to determine the property tax amount due on individual properties. TCA summaries can be viewed in our Assessment Books.
The formula to determine the property tax bill is:
Consolidated Levy Rate x Assessed Value ÷ 1,000 = Property Taxes
The County Treasurer mails tax statements on or about February 14 of the year in which they are collected and the receipts are distributed back to the various taxing districts.
