The Tax Assessors' Cold Shoulder
Washington's county assessors struggle to find a warm place to meet, eventually retreating to the State Auditor's office to set property valuation standards.
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The county assessors have about come to the conclusion that the capitol building is inadequate to a young and growing state like Washington. They were of the unanimous opinion that they never got into a more uncomfortable place in which to hold a meeting. It was cold and the stoves would not draw. After a few hours spent this forenoon in the discussion of various propositions, 'How to Keep Warm' being the most prominent one, the assessors adjourned by unanimous consent to the comfortable and commodious office of State Auditor Reed, where business was transacted with neatness and dispatch. The convention decided that buildings and fencing on lands, the title of which is vested in the United States, are considered improvements of the land and not on the land, and they may not be assessed as personal property.
“After a few hours spent this forenoon in the discussion of various propositions, 'How to Keep Warm' being the most prominent one, the assessors adjourned.”
The struggle to find adequate public meeting space in Olympia is a century-old tradition. While the assessors were worried about drafty stoves in 1892, modern Olympia still grapples with the adequacy of its civic infrastructure to support a rapidly growing population.
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