Through my daily work in real estate, I started noticing some very troubling trends when it comes to property taxes in Chelan County. The most expensive properties in our area—luxury waterfront, high-end second homes, and corporate apartment complexes—are being assessed at millions of dollars below their actual market value. Meanwhile, affordable and middle-income homes are being valued at—or often above—what they could realistically sell for in today's market. This imbalance shifts the tax burden onto hard-working homeowners in our county, forces landlords to raise rents, and is making our community less affordable for the people who actually live here. We cannot fix the housing crisis until we fix our tax assessments. I am not advocating for higher taxes; I am demanding accurate taxes.
Property taxes are the foundation of our public infrastructure and fund the essentials that keep Chelan County running — our roads, fire stations, local police, schools, and parks. None of us love paying taxes, but we can all agree they are necessary to keep our community safe, healthy, and thriving.
But a tax system only works if it is fair. Right now, Chelan County's property tax assessments are profoundly broken, and everyday homeowners are paying for it.
Through my daily work in real estate and home appraisals, I started noticing a very troubling gap between what homes in our county are actually selling for and what the Assessor's office says they're worth. When you look at the data, our current assessment system is completely backwards:
The most expensive, high-end properties in our county are consistently being assessed at hundreds of thousands, sometimes even millions, of dollars below their actual market value. To make matters worse, these homes drive up housing prices countywide and are oftentimes second (or third) vacation homes owned by individuals who do not actually live or work in our county.
Meanwhile, modest, starter homes and working-class properties are being assessed at — or often above — what they could realistically sell for in today's market.
When luxury second homes don't pay their fair share, the financial burden doesn't disappear, it gets shifted. Everyday working families, seniors on fixed incomes, and first-time homebuyers are forced to pick up the slack. This artificial inflation of property taxes is driving up monthly mortgage payments and forcing landlords to raise rents. It is actively making our community less affordable and pricing local families out of their own neighborhoods.
Our community thrives when everyone plays by the same rules. It's time to bring fairness, equity, and common sense back to our county assessments. If elected as your County Assessor, my mission is to restore structural fairness, modern efficiency, and consistency to the office through three core reforms:
We cannot rely on an outdated, flawed framework — currently run largely off Excel spreadsheets — to measure a modern real estate market. Luxury and corporate-owned properties must be evaluated just as strictly as affordable homes.
You shouldn't need a real estate license to understand your tax bill. Open the assessment process with clear online tools so every homeowner can see exactly how their value was calculated and how it compares to the county.
Actively promote and expand awareness of property tax exemptions and deferrals so the families who form the backbone of Chelan County are no longer forced to subsidize the wealthy.
I am not advocating for higher taxes. I am demanding accurate ones.Britini Port
We compared every parcel in Chelan County to a transparent, sales-based valuation model — and tested it against properties that actually sold in the last two years. The pattern we see shows up at scale, and the gaps are substantial.
Each of these properties recently sold. Compare what someone actually paid to what the county says it's worth.
| Address | Value comparison | Recent sale | Assessed Value | Under Assessed by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #### Greens Landing RdManson · Nov 2022 | $10,500,000 | $4,944,300 | 53% | |
| ### Key LnChelan · Oct 2024 | $5,120,000 | $2,263,500 | 56% | |
| ## Irwin LnLeavenworth · Jun 2024 | $3,350,000 | $1,346,800 | 60% | |
| ### Brimstone LnChelan · Jun 2024 | $4,750,000 | $2,824,100 | 41% | |
| #### S Lakeshore RdChelan · Aug 2025 | $1,350,000 | $214,200 | 84% | |
| ## Dietrich RdChelan · Jun 2021 | $6,750,000 | $2,359,700 | 65% | |
| #### Easy StWenatchee · Mar 2022 | $2,540,000 | $1,058,200 | 58% | |
| ##### US Hwy 97Chelan · Nov 2025 | $1,897,000 | $829,800 | 56% | |
| ##### Shore StLeavenworth · Aug 2021 | $1,750,000 | $976,800 | 44% | |
| Lakefront parcelManson · Jun 2019 | $2,325,000 | $667,500 | 71% |
Each of these properties recently sold. The county's Assessed Value is well above what someone was actually willing to pay.
| Address | Value comparison | Recent sale | Assessed Value | Over Assessed by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #### Crawford AveWenatchee · Feb 2021 | $569,000 | $806,100 | 42% | |
| #### 4th StWenatchee · Oct 2025 | $594,000 | $762,400 | 28% | |
| #### Vassar AveWenatchee · Mar 2025 | $420,000 | $558,000 | 33% | |
| #### Old Monitor RdMonitor · May 2023 | $590,000 | $872,000 | 48% | |
| #### Easy StMonitor · Jul 2024 | $260,000 | $370,700 | 43% | |
| ### S Elliott AveWenatchee · Nov 2025 | $379,000 | $474,100 | 25% | |
| ### N Garfield AveWenatchee · May 2023 | $433,750 | $631,800 | 46% | |
| ### Viewdale AveWenatchee · Sep 2021 | $245,000 | $551,600 | 125% |
How to read this: every property listed sold in an arms-length transaction within the past two years. The "Recent sale" column is what someone actually paid; the "Assessed Value" column is the current Chelan County assessed value. Street numbers are redacted to protect homeowner privacy — these examples are intended to illustrate a county-wide pattern, not single out individuals.
In the 1,460 recent sales we analyzed alone, the under-assessed properties represent over $140 million in missing assessed value — meaning roughly $1.1 million per year in property tax that has to come from somewhere else.
That's funding for schools, for fire districts, for parks, for the libraries and roads and emergency services that make this county feel like home. When the assessor's office gets the math wrong, every neighbor pays the difference — or the services we all rely on come up short.
Estimate based on 635 under-assessed parcels in our 24-month sales sample at the county's median effective tax rate of $7.88 per $1,000 of assessed value.
As a sixth-generation Wenatchee Valley resident, my roots in this community run deep. Like many families in our area, my great-great-grandfather originally moved here for the opportunity to work in agriculture, laying a foundation for the generations that followed. I began my own career in the cherry orchards of Stemilt Hill, instilling within me a lifelong respect for hard work and our local economy. I am so proud to continue my family's legacy, and my goal today is to help ensure our Valley remains a healthy and vibrant community where my own kids — and anyone who calls this place home — can live, work, and thrive.
My career spans entrepreneurial leadership and local property expertise. After graduating from Eastmont High School in 2005, then the University of Washington in 2009, I joined the U.S. Peace Corps and moved to Guatemala. There I worked with rural farmers, helping them expand business opportunities and earn a better living. This experience led me to start my own business, a successful export manufacturing company, where I oversaw all aspects of my company's daily operations and managed a team of more than 15 employees. In 2020, I returned home to Wenatchee to apply my experience in business to our local housing market, working with my family's construction company.
Today, as a licensed real estate broker, property manager, and accredited appraiser, I work daily with property values, market trends, and land use regulations. I understand the critical importance of fair property valuation, county revenue, and taxpayer equity. As your County Assessor, I will bring professional expertise, transparency, and a deep respect for our valley's heritage to ensure property assessments are accurate, fair, and equitable for every resident.
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