KVH brings therapist, changes meeting time
Klickitat Valley Health (KVH) welcomed a new member to the team during the month of June: Rhonda Turner, RT.
Although RT could be her initials, it stands for Respiratory Therapist. MaLisa Mudgett, CEO of Klickitat Valley Health, explained that hiring a Respiratory Therapist was in direct response to a study that the hospital completed earlier this year. The study indicated that respiratory problems have a significant impact on the Goldendale community. Over 30 percent of the primary diagnoses for both inpatient discharges and emergency room visits in 2008 were respiratory related issues.
Respiratory therapists treat and care for patients with breathing or other cardiopulmonary disorders. In her new role at Klickitat Valley Health, Turner will assume primary responsibility for all respiratory care, therapeutic treatments, and diagnostic procedures. Respiratory therapists cover a scope of services such as providing temporary relief to patients with chronic asthma/emphysema or giving emergency care to patients who are victims of a heart attack, trauma, etc.
Turner comes to Klickitat Valley Health with twenty-five years of experience in the Mid-Columbia area. When asked why she chose to relocate to Goldendale, she responded, “I have owned property in the area for quite some time with the goal of eventually moving here. I am looking forward to becoming part of the community.”
In addition to her RT experience, Turner holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health from Portland State University. She has a strong interest in community healthcare and in helping patients with chronic disease to better monitor and care for themselves. She explains that “through my experience I have seen patients improve when they are empowered with proactive education and skills.”
Another change taking place at KVH is that beginning July 21, the regular meeting of the KVH Board of Commissioners will move from 6:30 a.m. to a new time of 6:00 p.m.
Commissioner John Quinn stated at the June Board meeting, “This move is in response to feedback from members of the community.”
The meeting is traditionally held on the third Wednesday of the month and is open for the public to come and participate.
Free business startup workshop coming
Anyone who has ever considered starting a business of their own is encouraged to come to a free workshop on local resources, to be held in the Columbia High School Computer Lab on July 22 at 5:30 p.m.
This workshop will review local resources such as the Chamber itself, marketing companies, advertising opportunities, obtaining loans, a course on starting a business, printers, web site developers, graphic artists, promotional materials, accountants, and much more. Nearly everything a startup business needs can be found locally.
The workshop will allow participants to view the web sites of local companies with startup resources and take the first few steps required to start a business—researching name availability, checking domain name availability, and so on.
For more information or to register, call the Chamber at (509) 493-3630. Signs will be posted at the school for the computer lab. Enter through the main entrance.
KC appraisal system report card incites debate
Rebecca Gourley
Reporter
A two-year-old report report card on how counties in Washington conduct property appraisals is causing heated discussion in some political quarters. The report says that some counties—including Klickitat—are doing very poorly in their appraisal systems.
The report, “Measuring Real Property Appraisal Performance,” based on studies conducted in 2008 and released the following year, is distributed by the Washington State House of Representatives. Many of the multiyear cycle counties, including Klickitat County, did not receive a good rating.
The study examines appraisal levels (how close they are to 100 percent of market value) and appraisal uniformity (relating to fair and equitable treatment of individual properties).
The standards set by the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) state that if property ratios are not close to the median, then “the assessments are not uniform.” The median represents the amount that people are paying on their property taxes; if ratios are not close to the median, some people are paying more or less than their fair share of property taxes.
According to the study, Klickitat County failed in critical IAAO Uniformity Standards: Coefficient of Dispersion for residential and nonresidential, and percent difference for nonresidential. The county received the lowest score in the state for two others: Coefficient of Concentration and Median Percentage of Deviation for nonresidential.
“It wasn’t just Klickitat County that was at the bottom—other multiyear-cycle counties were at the bottom of the heap, too,” said Victoria Allen, who has been working in the Assessor’s office for seven years. However, according to Darlene Johnson, candidate for Klickitat County Assessor in this year’s election, “If you follow the standards, you shouldn’t receive a low rating.” Johnson added, “I have talked with so many taxpayers that are concerned about the reliability of their property assessments, and after seeing this report, they have a right to be concerned.”
The information gathered (at random) for the report would have a different outcome than if you looked at all of the Assessor’s office data, Allen says. Only a sample of all of the Assessor’s data is analyzed, she says, and therefore does not represent a complete report of their performance.
Allen also stated that where Klickitat County had a low score, other multiyear counties did as well. Johnson commented, “Some of the multiyear-cycle counties were able to meet the standards. I would rather compare our Assessor’s office with the ones that are able to provide uniform assessments and find out what they are doing that we could be doing.” Most of the low-scoring counties are, or were, multiyear cycle counties. This means that they did the revaluation process less often than annually. In Klickitat County’s case, it was every four years. That has since changed; Klickitat County has now gone to an annual cycle.
Each county in Washington has four years (until 2014) to make the switch to annual cycles. Klickitat County chose to switch next year because of their two software programs, ProVAL and Ascend—while other counties are waiting to switch because they are waiting for an update to their software, Klickitat County has fairly new software with no update needed, according to Allen. Therefore it made sense to switch sooner rather than later.
Now that Klickitat County is on an annual cycle, “We can expect to see an improvement to next year’s numbers,” said Allen. Johnson commented that she can’t say for sure if it will improve in the future or not.
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