Board of Equalization

Location and Hours

The Thurston County BOE office moved in December 2022. We are located at 3000 Pacific Avenue SE, Olympia, WA 98501. BOE staff are in Room 241, and the Board hearing room is Room 244. BOE customer service is by appointment only. Please email Ruth Elder, Clerk of the Board, to request an appointment (ruth.elder@co.thurston.wa.us).

2024 Value Notices/Deadline

The Assessor's Office sent 2024 Official Property Value Change Notices for residential and commercial real property, new construction and personal property on August 29, 2024. The deadline for appealing these assessments with the BOE (unless otherwise shown on the Notice) was Monday, October 28, 2024. There are few exceptions for good cause waivers for Petitions filed after the deadline. Please review the Late Filing Exception Request form and/or the Request for Reconvening form found on the "BOE Forms" page. If you have any questions, please email the Clerk of the Board, Ruth Elder at ruth.elder@co.thurston.wa.us. See the "Assessment Appeals" page for more information. Additional answers to your questions may also be found on the "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)" page and "The Appeal Process" page.

Pending Appeals

The Board is currently hearing 2022 assessment year appeals, and incorporating 2023 appeals if Petitioners have appeals for both years. When a hearing is scheduled for you, the Clerk of the Board will send you a Hearing Notice prior to your hearing. You will be given an opportunity to reschedule the date if need be. As it is often necessary to schedule hearings with a short turnaround time to submit additional evidence, it is important to note that YOU MAY SUBMIT ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE PERTAINING TO YOUR APPEAL AT ANY TIME DURING THIS PROCESS UP TO 21-BUSINESS DAYS PRIOR TO YOUR SCHEDULED HEARING. Providing effective and convincing evidence early may lead to discussions with the Assessor's Office and a possible Stipulation Agreement preventing the need for a hearing to be held. Per WAC 458-14-056(6), if you have a pending appeal with the BOE, and you receive a new Value Notice from the Assessor that you disagree with, you must file a timely Petition with the BOE in order to preserve your right to appeal for that year. This is an annual process and each year's Petition stands on its own merits.

BOE Overview and Current Members

The Thurston County Board of Equalization is a quasi-judicial board comprised of three citizen members who are appointed for three-year terms by the Thurston County Commissioners. Three alternate members are also appointed by the County Commissioners to serve when regular Board members are absent. The Board is established by the laws of Washington State and governed by the Washington State Department of Revenue (DOR), pursuant to RCW 84.08.020 and 84.08.060.

The Board is separate from and operates independently of the Thurston County Assessor. It adjudicates appeals of assessed property valuations and other determinations of the Assessor, with a goal of providing an impartial and economical forum to hear and decide appeals brought by taxpayers. The Board is also responsible for equalizing the assessed values so that all real and personal properties in Thurston County are assessed equitably at 100 percent of their true and fair value, with comparable properties assessed at comparable values.

Hearings of the Board are open to the public except for confidential proceedings involving proprietary business information. Hearings are held during business hours, currently via a conference call format. In-person hearings are expected to resume in the coming months and will be held in the BOE Hearing Room, 3000 Pacific Avenue SE, Room 244, Olympia, WA 98501.

The Board’s Clerk and staff are employees of Thurston County; however, they perform their duties under the direction, and serve at the pleasure, of the Board, pursuant to RCW 84.48.028.

Current members of the Board are:

Diane Pust, Chair
John Graver, Vice Chair
Ted May

Alternate Members of the Board are:

David Saavedra
Ron Germeaux
Vacant

Filing Electronic Submissions

If you wish to file a new Petition electronically, combine your Petition, Value Notice and supporting documents into 1 or 2 PDF read-only documents, then use the "New Petition Submission" link to upload your documents. If you do not have the technological resources/capability to file electronically, you may drop off or mail in your Petition and Value Notice to the Thurston County BOE, 3000 Pacific Avenue SE, Olympia, WA 98501. If filing electronically, do not also mail in a duplicate copy.
Note: The Transmittal form is NOT a Petition. Please go to BOE Forms to find the Petition form. A valid appeal must include a completed/signed (hand-written, not typed in script font) Petition with a copy of your Value Notice.
Properly completed appeals will be given precedence over incomplete appeals. Submitted documents should be legible and clear, not blurry, too dark or too light, and the Petition format must not be altered. A photograph of the Petition is not acceptable, however, a photo of your Value Notice is fine. Please review this example of a properly completed Petition form.
See these instructions for how to save your completed PDF interactive Petition form to ensure your data/signature doesn't get lost in transmittal.
The deadline to file a new 2024 property appeal (unless otherwise stated on your Official Property Value Change Notice) is Monday, October 28, 2024.
If you have a prior year appeal from 2021, 2022 or 2023, use the "Supplemental Info" link to submit evidence for your existing case or upcoming hearing.