Tax bills levied on the top 50 property owners in Spokane County for 2017 totaled $52 million, up nearly 2 percent from last year, county records show.

The rate of increase was lower than last year’s 3 percent hike and the 6.4 percent jump in 2015.

Overall property taxes levied in the county this year totaled $563 million, up 3.3 percent compared with $545 million in total taxes levied last year.

County records show that the taxable value of real, personal, and state-assessed property in Spokane County for 2016’s assessment to be collected this year totals $42.4 billion, up from $40.2 billion a year earlier.

In 2016, the tax bill for the property owners with the 10 largest assessed valuations totaled $28 million, while total valuations for property owners whose total valuations ranked 11th through 50th was $25 million, county records show.

Avista Corp., of Spokane, once again tops of the list of Spokane County property owners, with a total tax assessment of $9.4 million on 345 properties valued at $707 million. Last year, Avista had a total tax assessment of $9.4 million on 325 properties valued at $699 million.

Avista’s 2017 tax bill is more than double 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 $4.3 million on 13 properties valued at $340 million, up from $3.9 million on 13 properties valued at $308 million in 2016.

Spokane real estate magnate Harlan Douglass is third in the latest county property tax rankings, with a tax levy of $3.1 million on 410 properties valued at $230 million. Douglass’ tax levy was up slightly from his 2016 assessment of $3 million on 401 properties valued at $214 million. 

Cedar Chateau/Creek/Springs Properties, a holding company for three large Spokane-area apartment complexes, is the county’s fourth largest taxpayer, with a 2017 tax assessment of $2 million on 69 properties valued at $216 million. Last year, the holding company held 68 properties valued at $148.2 million.

Spokane Washington Hospital Co., which operates Deaconess Hospital and other properties within the Rockwood Health System network, is the county’s fifth largest taxpayer with a 2017 assessment of $2 million on 40 properties valued at $150 million. 

Providence Health & Services, the Renton, Wash.-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 $1.9 million tax bill on 118 properties valued at $139 million. 

Spokane-based Inland Empire Paper Co., and Texas-based BNSF Railway Co. are ranked seventh and eighth respectively. Inland Empire Paper Co. had a 2017 assessment of $1.6 million on 357 properties valued at $101 million, while BNSF Railway Co. saw a tax levy of $1.4 million on 108 properties valued at $112 million. 

Rounding out the top 10 are 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, and Benton, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., with a tax bill of $1.1 million.

Other property owners with tax bills topping just over $1 million are QWest Corp., a Denver-based real estate holding company for the communications company CenturyLink Inc., and NorthTown Mall, which is owned by Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc.