Accounting Assistant III

Salary: $5,229.00 - $6,371.00 Monthly
Location : Ellensburg
Job Type: Full-Time
Department: Treasurer's Office
Opening Date: 08/12/2025
Closing Date: 8/19/2025 5:00 PM Pacific
FLSA: Non-Exempt
Bargaining Unit: Courthouse
Description
The Accounting Assistant III is expected to perform complex technical accounting work with considerable latitude and independence. Duties include daily auditing, cashflow management, and complex bookkeeping and financial support. Must maintain courteous and cooperative working relationships with administrative and other County personnel, public agencies, and the general public, and work under the guidance of Local/State/Federal regulations and County policies/procedures.
Examples of Duties
CORE FUNCTIONS

• Provide training to Accounting Assistants I and II as needed.
• Provide requested information to assist the Finance Officer with year-end financial reporting.
• Contact the bank to research and resolve issues if/when they arise.
• Perform complex and technical customer support duties in assisting customers by telephone, email, and in person concerning a variety of fiscal matters.
• Perform and maintain a variety of financial transactions and records associated with the receipting and disbursement of funds.
• Assist in the development and installation of new accounting or computer systems or the modification of existing systems.
• Assist in the preparation of vouchers, and ensure budgeting accountabilities are adhered to.

Responsible for receptionist and cashier duties for the office

• Process and post payments for taxes, special assessments, and excises.
• Assist in preparing for the bi-annual, high-volume tax collection procedures.
• Answer inquiries by phone, email, or mail regarding property taxes, excise taxes, general office procedures and duties, and direct all other inquiries to the proper party.
• Advise taxpayers of tax amounts owed, calculating interest and penalties when delinquent.
• Collect and receipt payments into the correct systems for all payment types.
• Generate, review, modify, and process batch payments, mortgage imports, and EFT files for tax collection.
• Balance daily computer posting reports to cash drawer and prepare a bank deposit.
• Correspond with taxpayers regarding incorrect tax payments and miscellaneous inquiries.

Responsible for processing real estate excise tax affidavits per RCW's and WAC rulings and assisting taxpayers, closing agents, and attorneys in completing necessary excise affidavits

• Read and understand all State RCW's on excise tax collection for title companies, attorneys, and the public. Address any changes to RCW's or concerns about office procedures for excise processing with the Treasurer.
• Verify and validate affidavits are complete and accurate, and that the information on the affidavits correlates to the information on any accompanying documents.
• Verify excise tax and delinquent interest. Calculate penalty if applicable.
• Collect and receipt all tax and excise amounts due, including any applicable interest, penalties and advance taxes.
• Issue mobile home movement permits and decals to taxpayers and dealers and/or collect advance tax when applicable.
• Distribute original and copies of excise affidavits and movement permits accordingly.
• Correspond with taxpayers on excise inquiries, incomplete paperwork and/or incorrect payments.
• Assist in answering incoming telephone calls from taxpayers, title companies, realtors and other county departments, concerning inquiries on excise affidavits.

Report excise tax affidavits to the Department of Revenue and maintain buyer/seller records

• Forward monthly to the Department of Revenue, a statement of excise tax collected with tax affidavits.
• Assist in preparing reports of tax and Excise revenues collected and issue EFTs monthly for remittance of these collections to cities, schools, junior taxing districts, and State entities.
• Seek clarification from the Department of Revenue on questions that cannot be answered from the excise manual. Share DOR input and rulings with employee editing the excise manual.
• Maintain the Department of Revenue Real Excise Tax Instruction Manual within the office.
• Input from excise tax affidavits grantor/grantee sales information to generate a monthly seller/buyer reports for finance committee meetings.
• Maintain monthly mailing of courtesy ownership postcards to new owners.

Creation and maintenance of special assessment rolls and liaison with District or Department representatives regarding those rolls

• Work with special assessment districts and departments to create, prepare, and update their rolls.
• Work with special assessment districts and departments on statement design.
• Mail new or updated special assessment statements as needed.
• Notify the irrigation district regarding changes to the property tax roll that may impact their roll.
• Ensure that all special assessment statements are mailed timely and in the agreed manner.
• Work with each special assessment district or department to keep them appraised of collections and delinquencies.
• Maintain updated computer records, creating new assessment accounts, deleting removed accounts, and keeping accurate notes on all accounts.
• Interact directly with the district board members when solving problems with concerned taxpayers.
• Preparation of annual contract renewals for collection of special assessments; maintains accounts receivable, cost and revenue estimates, prepares billings, and makes recommendations to Treasurer for adjustments to fees charged.
• Create, balance, and mail new year ULID/RID assessment rolls statements.
• Answer inquiries regarding ULID/RID payoff amounts.
• Prepare a list of delinquent ULID/RID assessments and work with Districts regarding communication with taxpayers and potential foreclosure proceedings.
• Work with the office foreclosure specialist to include any delinquent special assessments in the foreclosure process.

Assist in determining correct parcels and computing tax and interest amounts and issuing refunds to taxpayers

• Coordinate with Assessor's Office on all parcels involved in refund request.
• Compute tax to be refunded and pro-rated interest using correct percentage as directed by RCW's.
• Maintain correspondence with taxpayer throughout process.
• Annual refund report to BOCC.

Senior citizen/disability refunds, and removals from open space classifications

• Respond to changes in the tax roll initiated by the Assessor's office, mailing new statements or processing and mailing refund checks as needed.
• Audit and approve tax roll corrections and any resulting refunds.
• Compute refund amount and interest.

Process and file phases for warrants daily and for monthly reporting

• Receive warrants from the bank, input individual warrant registers on the computer and balances to the daily computer printouts, and reports from the Auditor's Office.
• Delegate the daily warrant activity to other staff as needed to ensure the timely processing of warrants.
• Contact the bank regarding any warrant encoding errors.
• Notify Finance Officer about potential fraud or other major issues.
• Forward all processed county warrants to the Auditor's Office daily..
• Correspond with Auditor's Office and six school districts to cancel outstanding warrants monthly.
• Submit outstanding warrant report to BOCC.
• Monitor cash balances of all funds making sure warrants will not cause a deficit.
• Complete a month-end report of all issued, redeemed, and outstanding warrants for Treasurer's general ledger balance, and the Auditor's Office.

Maintain County Cash Management Policy and Procedures and Operating Policies

• Annually review the county's cash management policy and procedure for relevancy and update as necessary.
• Annually meet with county departments and districts to train on cash handling and assess compliance with county cash management policy.
• Annually send departments and districts 24-hour deposit requirement waiver.
• Maintain the Treasurer's Operations Manual.

Maintain and preserve Paid Under Protest correspondence

• Review and process payments and/or letters received as "Paid Under Protest" and document according to procedures.
• Responsible for filing and safeguarding "Paid Under Protest" letters.
• Review court judgments and notices from Department of Revenue regarding protested tax payments.

Process electronic payments received via credit card and Automatic Clearing House (ACH)

• Receipt electronic/credit card tax payments to the appropriate parcels in the computer system.
• Process and issue receipts for all miscellaneous revenues received on the current and previous day bank statements.
• Process daily book transfers through the online banking portal.
• Sets and approves banking activity as directed by Departments and Taxing Districts with appropriate dual custody.
• Process bail funds received.
• Process all transfers from the Auditor's and Treasurer's Offices, and any other county entities.
• Track, review, and audit all monies in Fund deposit accounts. Work with the Finance Officer to identify unprocessed investment or transfer requests. Advise the Treasurer, Auditor, or Taxing Districts of negative balances that appear in the general ledger without immediate resolution.
• Maintain suspense accounts.
• Maintain filing system for suspense account activity while reconciling the balance weekly.
• Maintain Autopay program files and correspondence.
• Generate, review and submit Autopay file for upload to the bank.
• Receipt electronic payments of Leasehold, Timber, and PILT taxes to the correct funds.
• Process NSF checks and proof adjustments.

Daily auditing of financial accounting and recording of revenue, disbursements, and fund transfers including a variety of banking activities related to officer operations

• Prepare the daily deposit of funds from the Treasurer's office and other Courthouse Departments in a timely manner. Communicate with Security regarding this process.
• Oversees the process for all bank deposits and works with Departments to ensure adherence to procedures and best practices.
• Audits and balances daily bank and cash drawer activity against receipts and reports.
• Conduct daily audits of revenue, disbursements, fund transfer, warrant and investment activity performed by the Treasurer's office.
• Scans all finalized balancing packets and backup documentation to appropriate files.
• Contact the bank to research and resolve issues related to funds deposited or withdrawn from County accounts.
• Perform monthly audits of all cash drawers.
• Assist the Finance Officer with the preparation of year-end reports on all cash/revenue activity and long-term debt for the Auditor's budget supervisor.

Responsible for reporting on tax collection and other metrics

• Prepare and present all tax collection reports required of the division.
• Ensure preparation of reporting concerning the activities of the department for purposes of overall metrics, benchmarks, and accountability.
• Prepare and distribute the annual refund levy report.
• Analyze daily, weekly, monthly property tax collection rates.

Responsible for the collection of Admissions Tax

• Correspond with customers.
• Audit payments and tax returns.
• Monitor and track events that have event permits.
• Research for upcoming events and notify event holders of the tax requirements.
• Analyze returns to ensure reporting and payments are occurring.
• Responsible for the retention of records as required by the state retention schedule.

Responsible for Unclaimed Property Reporting

• Track unclaimed property held by the Treasurer's office.
• Work to notify taxpayers of unclaimed property and reissue funds claimed.
• Annually send unclaimed funds to the Department of Revenue prior to the reporting deadline.

Annual preparation of property tax and assessment records and statements

• Compute and balance annual tax roll in conjunction with the Assessor's office.
• Oversee the printing of new-year tax and assessment rolls and statements.
• Inspect tax and assessment statements for accuracy, prepare purchase order for tax statements and tax binders.
• Oversee the annual mailing of statements; tracking both quantity and cost.
• Oversee the annual mailing of delinquent postcard; tracking both quantity and cost.
• Routinely audit tax roll using cancels, supplements, and refunds, and overpayments.
• Oversee the calculation, billing, collection, distribution and reporting in the annual property tax revenues.
• Audit tax levies, tax increment financing and other statutorily assigned areas of review for statutory compliance. Provide reports needed for issuance, and review and report on all debt of local governments in the county.

Responsible for the collection of and foreclosure on delinquent real and advanced property taxes as well as maintenance of personal property tax roll and distraint on delinquent personal property accounts

• Review outstanding delinquent tax account receivables. Prepare and conduct formal and legal procedures to collect taxes. As needed, foreclose on real property or distrain personal property when taxes are deemed uncollectible. Prepare records for cases involving litigation. Testify for the County on cases as needed.
• Understand and apply Washington State statutes pertaining to property tax foreclosure, personal property distraint, and property tax billing and collection. Work closely with State, local, and legal authorities in order to reconcile tax account issues.
• Research and compile a list of uncollectible personal property taxes; present list to Board of Commissioners as required by law.
• Provide complex research and record keeping. Order title searches. Research and trace property ownership and property liens and review legal descriptions for accuracy. Conduct legal research and compile information related to the collection of real and personal property taxes subject to distraint or foreclosure. Work requires frequent contact with other public agencies and private entities involved in the properties in question. Make all necessary and available contacts with taxpayers, including phone, mail, and in-person, utilizing skip-tracing methods when necessary to provide taxpayers all available means to discuss tax payments.
• Read and interpret Title reports, legal descriptions of property and various documents associated with foreclosures; draft letters and email communications, prepare legal documents, statements and notifications for mailing, organize, prepare, and maintain records and reports to ensure that work is accomplished in accordance with objectives, procedures, and State law.
• Issue Delinquent Notices. Coordinate efforts with the Prosecuting Attorney's office. Post and publish legal notices, post and advertise property sales and prepare sale documentation including minimum bid lists, and provide pertinent documents to the Prosecuting Attorney's office to be filed with the County Clerk.
• File bankruptcy proof of claims and ensure the County's claim by monitoring and communicating with the bankruptcy court and processing follow-up documentation.
• Remind property owners of due dates for payment to avoid foreclosure or distraint costs.
• Coordinate the annual foreclosure and distraint auctions.
• Distribute the monies generated from auctions to proper funds. Manage, report, and distribute excess proceeds from auctions. Issue and record Treasurer's deeds and administer any payment of surplus funds to the owner or other lien holders.
• Maintain minimum bid lists, tax title property lists, and surplus listings for website posting.
• Process Tax Title applications and work with other Departments, the Prosecutor's office, and taxpayers to facilitate the transfer of tax title properties.
• Manage the county's inventory of tax title property; market tax title properties and facilitate the sale of said properties.
• Set up, negotiate, and approve payment plans for delinquent taxpayers.
• Communicate regularly with Treasurers in other counties, lien holders, and tax district authorities.
• Manage collection processes to achieve the lowest possible level of delinquency.
• Provide delinquency statistics and collection statistics.
• Work with other Departments and the Prosecutor's office as needed to add Abatement statements to the tax roll for collection.

Manage foreclosure proceedings for delinquent Irrigation, Sewer ULIDs, and RID districts

• Enforce foreclosure procedures for irrigation and ULID/RID assessments each year; set up folders for each property.
• Converse with Prosecuting Attorney on procedures to be taken before foreclosure sale.
• Calculate delinquent interest and penalties on assessments from time of judgment until collection.
• Forward to taxpayers a letter of intent to foreclose both by regular/certified mail and judgment order of sale.
• Complete certification of purchase for buyer(s) of property at end of foreclosure sale.
• If needed, file a ULID/RID deed conveying property to sewer district or buyer.
• Maintain files for certified sewer/water charges, correspond with sewer secretary; release of lien when payment received.

Responsible for managing Treasurer's Office inventory and conducting the county surplus sale

• Update Treasurer's Office inventory records; adding or removing items throughout the year.
• Annually verify all model/serial numbers on each piece of office furniture and equipment in the Treasurer's Office; forward the up-to-date office inventory records to Auditor's Office.
• Receive lists of surplus property from the Auditor and prepare for the surplus sale, including entering the items in the online system.
• Conduct the online surplus sale; collect the funds and provide list of surplus items sold with amounts to the Auditor.

Typical Qualifications

• High School Diploma or GED equivalent.
• Four (4) years of college-level accounting or bookkeeping; OR four (4) years of accounting/bookkeeping experience.
• Previous cashiering experience.
• Equivalent education and/or experience may be considered in lieu of the qualifications stated above at the discretion of the Department Head or Elected Official.
• Current and valid driver's license.
• A criminal history and background check will be performed on qualified applicants. Convictions may preclude candidates from employment in certain circumstances. Factors such as relativity to the position, age and time of the offense, seriousness and nature of the violation, and rehabilitation will be taken into account.

Supplemental Information
Work is primarily performed in an office setting with occasional need to work in outdoor or non-office environments. Office space is limited and requires employees to work in close proximity of each other. The position requires the ability to sit for extended periods of time, stand, walk, ascend/descend stairs or small ladders/stepstools, stoop, kneel, crouch, twist, grasp, and reach with arms and legs. Must have ability to lift, push, pull, or carry up to 25 lbs. and occasionally higher with assistance. Must be able to read printed materials and a computer screen and have sufficient hearing and speech to communicate clearly via telephone and in person. Safety policies and procedures must be adhered to at all times.
Work hours are standard with some weekend and evening work as needed. Vacation requests may not be granted during tax processing dates. Reliable attendance and punctuality are required.
Must be able to safely operate a motor vehicle in varied weather conditions and levels of daylight. Periodic travel will be required for ongoing training opportunities and attendance of meetings.
All functions listed in this job description are considered essential however some specialized functions may not be assigned to every employee with this title. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.
Most permanent employees who at least 20 hours per week on a regular schedule are entitled to healthcare, retirement, and leave benefits, pro-rated to the scheduled hours of work.
HEALTHCARE BENEFITS
Eligible employees and their family members have access to medical, dental, and vision benefits. The base plans for these benefits are paid 100% by the County regardless of the number of family members enrolled. Plan buy-up options are available for a small cost via payroll deduction.
LIFE INSURANCE AND SUPPLEMENTAL PRODUCTS
Kittitas County offers access to a $12,000 basic life/accidental death and dismemberment insurance plan as well as a base long term disability plan through Mutual of Omaha as part of the core benefits program.
Supplemental products are available for eligible employees who choose to purchase them through AFLAC, Allstate, Colonial, and Mutual of Omaha. These products include:

• Supplemental life insurance
• Accidental death and dismemberment
• Disabilty insurance

LEAVE BENEFITS
Eligible County employees have access to a variety of leave programs. The amount of paid leave an employee may accrue and bank will vary between employee groups and collective bargaining agreements. Types of leave available include, but are not limited to:

• Legal holidays
• Personal holiday
• Paid time off (PTO)
• Bereavement Leave
• Military Leave
• Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
• Paid Family & Medical Leave (PFML)

RETIREMENT BENEFITS
Most benefited employees are eligible to participate in the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) plan administered by the Department of Retirement Systems (DRS). Participation in the DRS retirement program is mandatory for all eligible employees. Both the employee and the County contribute to the plan at a rate set by the State legislature.
For more information regarding DRS you can visit their website at
Employees who want to save additional dollars for retirement may do so voluntarily by participating in a choice of 457 deferred compensation plans. A 457 plan allows employees to defer funds through payroll deduction, up to a maximum amount set each year by the IRS.
01
Describe your ability to maintain focus and produce accurate work in a fast-paced environment with frequent interruptions. Include how you keep track of multiple projects when you are pulled away from them mid-stream, and provide an example of how you have been successful in a similar environment in the past.
02
Please describe your cash-handling experience.
03
Provide an example of a time where you had to articulate politely and accurately a problem to a customer that did not have a positive resolution. Describe how you handled the situation and the outcome.
04
What experiences, education, and training do you have that support and strengthen your application for this position?
05
5. This position requires, at minimum, the ability to use Microsoft Office programs at a basic level. Which of the following best describes your level of experience using Microsoft Excel or similar spreadsheet program?•Beginner (setting up formatted worksheets and sorting data)•Intermediate (crating formulas, charts and graphs, pivot tables and links between files)•Advanced (creating worksheets with decision-making capabilities, macros and importing data from other sources)•None of the above
Required Question