2009-10 Property Tax Statements Will Arrive Soon

Media Contacts: Anette Spickard, Assessor, 682-4321

Lane County taxpayers will receive their 2009-10 property tax statements beginning October 23, 2009.

Approximately 172,000 statements will be mailed this year. Tax statements will be mailed on Friday, October 23, 2009, and the first payment is due Monday, November 16, 2009, since November 15 falls on a Sunday this year.

The Lane County Assessor/Tax Collector collects property tax on behalf of 82 separate taxing districts including cities, schools, education service districts, water districts, rural fire districts, urban renewal districts and other taxing districts such as park and recreation, library and ambulance districts.

The total property tax certified for all district levies combined in 2009 is $407.4 million. This is approximately 7.4% more than the total of all taxes levied in 2008 which was $379.6 million. The addition of new local option levies and bonds approved by voters, the 3% automatic increase in assessed values, and the addition of new construction to the tax roll all contributed to the increase in property tax to be collected this year.

Oregon ’s constitution limits the increase in maximum assessed value of each property to 3% per year, unless there have been changes made to the property. The most common reasons a property’s assessed value grows more than 3% is new construction or additions, new partitions or subdivisions, removal from special assessment or exemption programs.

The majority of properties in Lane County have a taxable assessed value much lower than their real market value and will see the statutory 3% increase in their assessed value. On average, residential property owners only pay tax on 65% of their home’s real market value. 

The 2009 tax statement reflects your property’s real market value as of January 1, 2009. This is based on the activity of the 2008 real estate market which overall in Lane County showed a decrease in housing prices. Property tax amounts are set only once a year at the time of certification in early October. Oregon does not reset property values or recalculate tax at the time of sale or refinanced loan.

It is important to note that even though the 2008 real estate market for residential properties began to decline, the assessed value of most properties will still see a 3% increase this year as required by law because the assessed value is still lower than the real market value. It is unlikely that the downturn in the market would drop market values below the Measure 50 assessed values.

The change in tax an individual property owner will see depends on the area the property is located. Voters have approved changes to the tax levies and bond rates which are applied to the property’s assessed value. However Oregon ’s constitution limits the total tax rate that can be billed to an individual property to no more than $10.00 for government and $5.00 for schools for a total of $15.00 per $1,000 of the property’s real market value. The limit does not apply to bonds.

The total taxable value for all properties in Lane County has increased by 4.3% percent over last year, from $24.5 billion in 2008 to $25.6 billion in 2009. This reflects the 3% automatic increase in assessed value plus the assessable portion of new construction that occurred in 2009 that was added to the tax roll.

Countywide, Measure 5 Real Market Value (which excludes the value of 100% exempt properties) decreased 3.85 % between 2008 and 2009 as compared to increase of 4.74% percent between 2007 and 200 8.

New construction activity in 2008 added $615 million in Real Market Value to the tax roll (a decrease of 44% from the prior year), bringing Lane County’s January 1, 2009 Real Market Value (including the value of 100% exempt properties) to $51.3 billion (an overall decrease of 3.8% from January 1, 2008). Typical single family homes in most areas of the county experienced broad decreases in value ( Eugene -7.5%, Springfield -9.2%). Areas of the county that saw the largest changes to market values were on the coast where the real estate market has been more volatile (ranging from 11.3% decrease for City of Dunes to a 2.7% decrease for the City of Mapleton ). A typical home in Lane County showed an 8.7% decrease in value.

2009 property tax changes include new 5-year Local Option Levies for Siuslaw School District, $0.75 per $1,000 of Assessed Value (AV); River Road Parks and Recreation, $0.47 per $1,000 of AV; and Santa Clara Fire District, $0.60 per $1,000 of AV.  Levies renewed include a Fern Ridge Library Local Option Levy, in effect through 2013-14 with the same rate of $0.25 per $1,000 of AV; Crow-Applegate-Lorane for a 5-year Local Option Levy passed in November of 2009 for $1.50 per $1,000 of AV; a 15-year Lane Community College Bond totaling $83 million with $6,075,000 being levied in 2009-10; and a City of Eugene Bond for roads totaling $35.9 million with $6.75 million levied this year.

The Siuslaw Public Library Bond; Willamalane Park and Recreation Bond; and Mohawk Valley Rural Fire District Bond were not renewed. The Siuslaw RFPD #1 has changed its name to Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue. The City of Veneta passed a bond for their swimming pool in November 2008, but will not levy it this year.

Fire Patrol rates have declined in 2009. The surcharge for improved lots when down from $71.47 to $47.50. The per acre charge for East went down from $1.2205 to $1.1832 and the per acre charge for West went down from $0.9486 to $0.8891.

Neighborhood realignment of residential properties in areas of the county based on school district boundaries began in 2006. In 2007, the rural and urban areas of the South Lane School District were completed. In 2008, realignment of the residential properties located within the school district boundaries of Oakridge, Dexter, Lowell, Creswell and Pleasant Hill occurred. In 2009, properties were realigned in The Siuslaw School District which includes Florence and the Mapleton School District . The benefit of in-depth neighborhood review provides a mechanism for uniformity, since the six-year reappraisal cycles concluded when Measures 47/50 became effective in 1997.

Attached is an advance copy of the property tax insert that will be mailed with each tax statement. The insert has additional information on payments, where to locate information and services provided by the Department of Assessment and Taxation.

Also attached are two charts. One showing the median assessed value and tax rates for different areas of the county and one showing the real market value and percent difference for 2008 and 2009.