Yakima County Assessor Running For Re-Election

Yakima County Assessor, Dave Cook, has announced his re-election campaign.
Cook has served as Yakima County Assessor since first being elected in 1998.  Prior to taking office he owned and operated Rosser & Sutton Office Products for 29 years.

“I said when I first came into office that I wanted to utilize my business background in bringing a business approach to customer service to a government office and am very proud to say that we have done that.  The requirements placed on County Government by the State Legislature are constantly changing our job, like the change to the State School Levy this year.  Regardless, our main focus is to serve the property owners of Yakima County.  We set annual goals in the office for every aspect of our job responsibilities and work diligently toward meeting those goals.”

Regarding property values, Cook said; “Yakima County is currently in a period of record increases in the selling prices of property.  People need to remember that the assessed values of property are based on sales of similar properties in an area.  My office doesn’t get a commission on what assessed values are.  Our goal is for the values to be an accurate reflection on what properties are being sold for.  If a property owner questions their value or asks, we’ll show them exactly how their assessed value was developed and, if by chance we’ve made a mistake, we’ll fix it.”

Cook is an Accredited Real Estate Appraiser with the State of Washington, Past President of the Washington State Association of County Assessors, and is currently the Legislative Chairman of that same Association.  He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Washington Association of County Officials.