SNOQUALMIE VALLEY - North Bend and Snoqualmie have proven that for being such small towns, they have very large pockets.

With the exception of Ocean Shores, North Bend and Snoqualmie had the highest total assessed valuation of property of all cities in the state of Washington with populations between 3,000-5,000 as of April 1, 2000.

The 2001 assessed valuation figure for North Bend, which was the latest that could be confirmed and the figure property taxes are based on for 2002, is $465,258,648. Ocean Shores, a coastal community in Grays Harbor County, is worth $580,681,501 and Snoqualmie is worth $424,576,328.

The rest of the cities all over Washington, however, fall short. Cities larger than North Bend's 3,840 population and Snoqualmie's 2,345 population were sometimes assessed at hundreds of millions of dollars below the Valley. Sequim, which had 4,430 people, is worth $332,077,932 and Buckley, with 4,040 people, is worth $231,359,120.

Forks, a Clallam County city with a population of 3,450, bottomed out the small towns' list with $95,417,980 worth of property.

For the complete story, pick up a copy of this week's Valley Record

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