Tax bills levied on the top 50 property owners in Spokane County for 2016 totaled $51 million, up 3 percent from last year, county records show.

The rate of increase was down, though, from a 6.4 percent increase in 2015 compared with the prior year’s total tax bill for the top 50 taxpayers in the county.

Overall property taxes levied in the county increased at the same rate this year, totaling $545 million, up 3 percent from $529 million last year.

County records show that the taxable value of real, personal, and state-assessed property in Spokane County for 2015’s assessment to be collected this year totals $40.2 billion.

In 2016, the tax bill for the property owners with the 10 largest assessed valuations totaled $28 million. That compares to $23.2 million in taxes paid by those property owners whose total valuations ranked 11th through 50th, county records show. 

Avista Corp., of Spokane, once again is at the top of the list of Spokane County property owners, with a total tax assessment of $9.4 million on 325 properties valued at $699 million. Last year, Avista had a total tax assessment of $9 million on 313 properties valued at $633 million.

Avista’s 2016 tax bill is more than twice the amount levied on the county’s No. 2 taxpayer, Kaiser Aluminum Washington LLC, the real estate holding arm of Foothill Ranch, Calif.-based Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp.

Kaiser Aluminum Washington had a property tax bill of $3.9 million on 13 properties valued at $308 million, up from $3.6 million on 10 properties valued at $278.4 million in 2015.

Spokane real estate magnate Harlan Douglass is third in the latest county property tax rankings, with a tax levy of $3 million on 401 properties valued at $214 million. Douglass’ tax levy was up slightly from his 2015 assessment of $2.9 million on 392 properties valued at $204.1 million.

Spokane Washington Hospital Co., which operates Deaconess Hospital and other properties within the Rockwood Health System network, is the county’s fourth largest taxpayer with a 2016 assessment of $2 million on 40 properties valued at $146.5 million.

Spokane Washington Hospital’s properties increased in number from 36 in 2014, though the properties’ total value dipped slightly from $146.7 million. In 2014, Spokane Washington Hospital had 27 properties valued at $152.6 million.

Cedar Chateau/Creek/Springs Properties, a holding company for three large Spokane-area apartment complexes, is in the top five for a second straight year, with a tax bill of $2 million on 68 properties valued at $148.2 million. Last year, the holding company held 60 properties valued at $142.2 million.

Providence Health & Services, the Seattle-based nonprofit parent of Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center & Children’s Hospital, Providence Holy Family Hospital, and Providence Medical Park-Spokane Valley, is sixth in the latest ranking, with a $1.7 million tax bill on 93 properties valued at $119.2 million.

Qwest Corp., a Denver-based real estate holding company for the communications company CenturyLink Inc., and Spokane-based Inland Empire Paper Co. are ranked seventh and eighth, respectively, each with tax bills of about $1.6 million. The total value of Qwest-owned properties was $121 million, with Inland Empire Paper at $101.3 million.

Rounding out the top 10 are Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF Railway Co., with a tax bill of $1.4 million, and Hollister-Stier Laboratories LLC, the Spokane-based real estate holding company for Jubilant HollisterStier Contract Manufacturing & Services, with a tax bill of $1.3 million.

Other property owners with tax bills topping seven figures are Benton, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and NorthTown Mall, which is owned by Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc. Wal-Mart has a tax bill of $1.1 million and NorthTown has a tax bill of $1 million.