Tax bills levied on the top 50 property owners in Spokane County for 2015 totaled $49.5 million, up 6.4 percent from last year, county records show.

That compares with a 4.4 percent increase in 2014, compared with the prior year’s total tax bill for the top 50 taxpayers in the county.

Avista Corp., of Spokane, was again at the top of the list of Spokane County property owners with a total tax assessment of $9 million on 313 properties valued at $633 million.

The 2015 tax assessment for the Spokane-based energy company is up 19 percent from its 2014 tax bill of $7.3 million on 309 properties valued at $532.2 million.

Avista’s 2015 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 Foothills Ranch, Calif.-based Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp.

Kaiser Aluminum Washington had a property tax bill of $3.6 million on 10 properties valued at $278.4 million, up from $3.3 million in taxes on properties valued at $261.1 million in 2014.

Spokane real estate magnate Harlan Douglass is third in the Spokane County property taxpayer rankings with a tax levy of $2.9 million on 392 properties valued at $204.1 million. Douglass’ tax levy was up slightly from his 2014 assessment of $2.6 million on 389 properties valued at $186.3 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 2015 assessment of $2.1 million on 36 properties valued at $146.7 million. Spokane Washington Hospital’s properties increased in number from 27 in 2014, though the properties’ total value dipped from $152.6 million.

Cedar Chateau/Creek/Springs Properties, a holding company for three large Spokane-area apartment complexes, moved into the top five in the county with a tax bill of $1.9 million on 60 properties valued at $142.2 million. Last year, the holding company held 57 properties valued at $108.5 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 six and seventh, each with tax bills of $1.6 million. The total value of Qwest-owned properties was $118.9 million, with Inland Empire Paper close behind at $101.2 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 eighth with a $1.5 million tax bill on total properties valued at $103.6 million.

Rounding out the top 10 are Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF Railway Co., with a tax bill of $1.3 million, and Hollister-Stier Laboratories LLC. The Spokane-based real estate holding company for Jubilant HollisterStier Contract Manufacturing & Services has a 2015 tax bill of $1.2 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., each with tax bills of $1.1 million.

General Growth Properties also owns Spokane Valley Mall, which is ranked 14th among top Spokane County taxpayers with a 2015 tax bill of $954,900.

Davenport Hotel/Tower, the real estate holding company for Spokane developer Walt Worthy’s hotel properties, moved up to 17th from 18th in the rankings with a tax bill of $839,600 on six properties valued at $59 million.

This year marked the opening of the 716-room Davenport Grand Hotel near the Spokane Convention Center downtown. In 2014, the company reached agreement to franchise the Davenport Collection of hotels with Marriott International’s Autograph Collection.

Overall property taxes levied in the county for 2015 totaled $529 million, up 3.6 percent from $509.7 million levied in 2014, records show.

The top 50 property taxpayers in the county were assessed just over 9.4 percent of the total property taxes levied countywide in 2015, up from 9 percent last year.

Property taxes billed in 2015 are based on 2014 assessed values.