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Just-mailed tax bills hold `no big surprises' By PETER WONG For most Jackson County property owners, the 1999-2000 tax bills that went out in Wednesday's mail will contain few surprises. Sample tax bills These are examples of property tax bills that will be paid by homeowners in selected Jackson County cities and towns. The figures represent the taxes due on a home valued at $100,000 in 1998 and $103,000 in 1999, except in Ashland, where values of $150,000 and $154,500 are used. Larger increases in some cities are the result of ballot measures passed by voters last year. CITY 1998 1999 Medford $1,439 $1,484 Ashland $2,143 $2,208 Central Point $1,354 $1,399 Jacksonville $1,227 $1,254 Phoenix $1,323 $1,527 Talent $1,311 $1,678 Shady Cove $1,108 $1,183 For owners of 88 percent of the nearly 100,000 accounts, property values rose by the maximum 3 percent allowed under a 1997 ballot measure -- and property taxes for most owners will go up by 3 to 3.5 percent. Assessor Dan Ross said the actual range is from 1.2 to 4 percent because of increases or decreases in bond payments, which are exempt from Oregon's property tax limits, or expiring tax levies. "There are no big surprises I can see this year," Ross said. "I think the people we will hear most from are people who live in communities where new taxes were approved last year." Of 14 local tax measures in last year's election, only four were approved: Phoenix, where voters approved a five-year city levy. For the owner of a home valued at $100,000 last year and 3 percent more this year, the combined tax bill for all local governments is $1,527, up 15.5 percent from last year. Talent, where voters approved the city's annexation into Fire District 5. For the owner of a home valued as above, the combined tax bill is $1,678, up 28 percent from last year. Property owners outside those cities, but within Fire District 5, will see a drop in their taxes because a two-year district levy has expired. Shady Cove, where voters approved a five-year city levy. For the owner of a home valued as above, the combined tax bill is $1,183, up 6.8 percent. Applegate Rural Fire Protection District, where voters approved a five-year levy. For the owner of a home valued as above, the combined tax bill is $1,140, up 13.9 percent. If voters approve any of the four bond issues on the Nov. 2 mail-in ballot, those increases will be reflected on the 2000-01 tax bills. The county will collect $121.6 million in property taxes for 40 local governments, up 7.6 percent from $113 million last year. Some of that increase was produced by the 3 percent growth limit, which voters approved in 1997. Some came from new taxes that voters approved last year, as described above, and the rest was generated from the taxable value of new construction added to the rolls. The county's overall taxable property value rose 6.4 percent from $8.4 billion to $8.95 billion. That total is far short of real market value, which rose 8.1 percent from $12 billion to $13 billion. When voters approved new property tax limits in 1996 and a legislative revision in 1997, they set 90 percent of 1995-96 values as the base for taxable property values. That base year was locked into the Oregon Constitution. Ross said it resulted in a rollback of values in Ashland, which underwent field reappraisals in 1996. But the choice of base year did not benefit every property owner. "As is typical, some values went up, some went down and some stayed the same," he said. "The values of those properties that went down in the 1996 reappraisal were higher in 1995-96. Those values were lowered by 10 percent, but they may not be lower than the numbers they had in the reappraisal. "You could have properties side by side that could have very different assessed values on the tax rolls because of the way the formula works. We have not seen a lot of people complain -- but there is nothing we can do about it." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA