Woodburn Independent Online

Property tax increases due to voter-approved ballot measure

• By: Rachel Cavanaugh  
• Published: 11/3/2009 9:55:19 AM
• Last Updated: 11/4/2009 12:33:51 PM

WOODBURN — Property tax statements have been mailed out to Marion County homeowners, showing increases in taxes owed.
 
According to Marion County Tax Assessor Richard Kreitzer, the jumps come at a time when real market values have dropped about 4 percent countywide.
 
“Overall, trends in residential real market value are down,” said Kreitzer.
 
Moreover, the statements don’t represent current drops, he said. Market values are established in January, which means next year will likely see even bigger drops.
 
“It’s about 10 months old,” Kreitzer said. “We’re not reflecting any of the decrease in the market that has occurred between Jan. 1 and now.”
 
He estimated additional drops of about 10 percent next year.
 
The exact figure, he said, will depend on what happens in the final quarter of 2009.
 
“Hopefully, we’ve seen a leveling off of the decline and we won’t see these huge, dramatic decreases,” Kreitzer said.
 
The confusion for many taxpayers is why market values have gone down but taxes have gone up. Kreitzer said it is largely due to a 1997 ballot measure that established a new formula, which indicates an increase of 3 percent each year.
 
The idea was to make taxes more predictable and less susceptible to volatile real estate markets. It passed during a period when home values were on the rise.
 
That has led to the discrepancy now, he said.
 
“Unfortunately, while the real market value will decrease for most properties, assessed values will increase by the constitutional 3 percent,” Kreitzer said in a recent press release. “… While this may sound contradictory, it is actually a function of what the voters chose when Measure 50 was approved. … The steady 3 percent growth in assessed value was a change taxpayers welcomed. But now with falling values, there are a lot of questions.”
 
Beyond the 3 percent, taxes are also based on things like voter-passed bonds, local option levies and urban renewal agency increases.
 
In Marion County, the largest regional increase was seen in St. Paul, with an average change in taxes of 14 percent, or $277.82.
 
That change is due to two factors: a city local option levy and the St. Paul Fire District bond.
 
In Hubbard, the increase was 4 percent, or $74.14, due primarily to the Chemeketa Community College Bond. In Gervais, the increase was 2 percent, or $51.85. In Woodburn, it was 1 percent, or $18.01 to $18.24. That was due to the Chemeketa Community College Bond, and brought back by a decrease in the school bond and the retirement of a city bond.
 
Local Certified Public Accountant Ted Ahre said the increases he’s observed have not been dramatic.
 
“None of them seem to be up very much,” said Ahre.
 
“Everybody seems to be up $80 or $100, something like that. … The valuation on the real estate market, of course, is soft so I think there may have been some confusion about just what it all would mean when it came down to the actual bills. Ultimately, it seems to be more or less the same as last year. At least the ones I’ve seen. … The tax bills have not been noticeably higher.”
 
Tax statements for Marion County were mailed Oct. 15 and the first payment is due Nov. 16.

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