Clallam County settles with Port Angeles Hardwood

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, May 20, 2026

PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County commissioners approved a settlement agreement which ends a dispute with Port Angeles Hardwood regarding property value assessments for several years.

Commissioners approved the agreement Tuesday during their regular meeting after hearing an overview of the settlement from chief civil deputy prosecuting attorney Dee Boughton during their work session Monday.

“This settlement agreement proposes to settle all tax year assessment disputes for those years, 2020 through 2024, and is also applicable to the assessments for 2025 and 2026,” Boughton said.

The Port Angeles Hardwood property value assessments are complex because it is an industrial property that involves both land value and personal property value, Commissioner Mike French said. For the assessment, the county has relied on the state Department of Revenue advisory assessments to evaluate the properties.

The assessed values for the disputed years, according to county documents, were: $19.151 million for 2020-21, $17.551 milllion for 2021-22, $30.3 million for 2022-23, $47,080,685 for 2023-24 and $13 million for 2024-25.

The total assessed values of the subject property and mechanism for resolving each pending matter, according to county documents, are: $19.151 million for 2020 and dismiss the petition for judicial review; $17.551 million for 2021 and dismiss the petition for judicial review; $15 million for 2022, which is a Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) stipulation; $14 million for 2023, which is a stipulated judgment in court; $13 million for 2024, with the Clallam County assessor withdrawing her BTA appeal; $9,518,020 for 2025, with no action because that’s the assessed value; and then $9,518,020 in 2026, which places the tax rolls in the normal assessment process.

“Port Angeles Hardwood is an important employer, important business that produces a lot of economic activity, a lot of good jobs, and I really appreciate them operating in Clallam County,” French said. “I appreciate that they brought a very reasonable settlement offer to the table in an issue that has been very complex and contentious for a number of years.”

The agreement stipulates that within 15 days of the execution of the agreement, and no later than April 15 each year thereafter, Port Angeles Hardwood will provide the following documents to the county assessor’s office for the property as of Dec. 31 of the prior year: detailed asset listing, profit and loss statements, balance sheet, lumber production, historical and common-size income statements, and valuation year budget in the same format as the profit and loss statements.

In return, the county assessor will “provide Port Angeles Hardwood its valuation showing the factors used in determining the assessed value of the subject property no later than the date on which the assessor issues notices of the assessed values of the subject property each year.”

“We appreciate that they came to the table with a reasonable settlement that keeps us out of court and keeps us from paying lawyers,” French said. “I think this is a fair agreement.”

During Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners also approved an agreement with Washington State University for solid waste assistance.

“The county receives grant funding from the state Department of Ecology,” county Administrator Todd Mielke said. “This is their local solid waste financial assistance grant funds.”

The funds are for two tasks. The first is to update the county’s Comprehensive Solid & Hazardous Waste Management Plan and the second is for Organics Waste Reduction.

“In the past, Public Works successfully partnered with WSU Extension to implement organics waste reduction,” county documents state. “In the ’21-’23 and ’23-’25 biennia, WSU Extension implemented measures to reduce organic waste in Clallam County by a total of approximately 104.9 tons.

The performance period for the grant is April 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027, and the cost will not exceed $37,900, according to county documents.

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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.