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Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Local Issues Obituaries Weather Archive Revels Etcetera Backpage Hot Topics Most Viewed Forum Photo Galleries Video Readers Polls O-Zone Online Games Movie Preview Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad June 8, 2006 Mike Metzker walks his dog Cooper past this home for sale Wednesday. Orville Hector / Ashland Daily Tidings Voters will decide if city needs their OK to levy real estate tax By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings Ashland voters will be asked this November whether the city should be required to win voter permission before adopting a real estate sales tax. Some affordable housing advocates have pointed to a real estate sales tax, also known as a property transfer tax, as a method for funding affordable housing projects. Supporters of a city charter amendment that would require voter approval of any such tax collected 1,601 valid signatures for the initiative — more than the required 1,582 signatures, according to Ashland City Recorder Barbara Christensen. Earlier this week, the Ashland City Council took the formal step of placing the initiative on the ballot. State law requires that initiatives that receive the necessary signatures go before voters at the next available election, Christensen said. Al Willstatter, one of the chief petitioners for the initiative, said the public’s response was favorable when he and others were gathering signatures. “It seems like city hall has an innate feeling that to resolve problems, you get more money from taxpayers and throw money at problems,” he said. An Ashland resident since the 1960s, Willstatter said he can’t predict how the initiative will fare in November because of the city’s changing demographics and influx of new residents. “I have faith in the voters. That’s why we wanted to take it to them,” he said. “Whatever they decide, so be it.” Councilor Cate Hartzell said there has never been an intention among local affordable housing advocates to try to adopt a property transfer tax without voter approval. Currently, state law prohibits local governments from enacting any tax on property transfers. Moves to change the law have died in the Oregon Legislature. Back in 2005, the city council passed a resolution supporting a repeal of the ban on real estate transfer taxes. Councilors said at that time they were not necessarily endorsing such a tax or offering support for its eventual adoption here, but believed local communities should have the right to choose for themselves. Affordable housing advocates have proposed a one half of 1 percent tax on property sales, with the first $200,000 of a property’s value exempt from the tax. The tax would have generated about $420,000 per year based on sales figures in 2004, when the average sales price on 470 homes was $378,403. The average buyer — or seller, depending on the agreement between the two parties — would have paid $892, according to figures developed by Ashland Community Development Department staff for the council’s deliberations in 2005. The median sales price for an Ashland home has since risen past $400,000. Proponents of a tax have said the revenues could be used as matching funds to attract grants, multiplying the value to the community of the tax. But opponents have argued the tax would make buying a home even more expensive, and the city should focus on such efforts as attracting businesses that pay high wages. Staff writer Vickie Aldous can be reached at 479-8199 or [email protected]. . Leave a Comment: --> Copyright © 2006 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.