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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend November 18, 2005 Tax bills include increase for error By BILL KETTLER Mail Tribune Some 2,700 Jackson County taxpayers are receiving new property tax bills for 2005-06 because of a mistake in the assessor’s office. Taxpayers will pay an average of $13 more for fire protection provided by the Oregon Department of Forestry on forest land and grazing land, Assessor Dan Ross said Thursday. Owners of the smallest plots of forest land affected by the error will pay an extra $5, said Dan Thorpe, southwest regional forester for the Oregon Department of Forestry. Ross said his department mistakenly used last year’s assessment figure of 94.65 cents per acre for fire protection on forest land when the 2005-06 taxes were calculated. The figure should have been $1.2674 per acre. On grazing land, the outdated rate of 76.26 cents per acre was used instead of 82.18 cents. Advertisement "It’s probably my fault," Ross said, noting that the correct figures were in his files, but the new rate "never got processed" for calculating taxes. The error surfaced when county tax records were being reviewed after tax bills were sent out. Ross noticed that the amount collected for fire protection was remarkably similar to the previous year’s total, which raised some questions. Ross said the correction will affect about 4,600 tax accounts. There are more tax lots affected than property owners because some individuals and businesses own more than one tax lot. Correcting the mistake will add about $170,000 to the Department of Forestry’s firefighting fund for Southern Oregon. Jackson County taxpayers’ share of the fund amounts to $950,000 with the increase. The tax assessment for wildland fire protection fluctuates from year to year depending on the severity of the fire season. Costs from earlier fire seasons can also influence the rate. Thorpe said some expenses from the costly fire season of 2002 drove up this year’s assessment. Ross said the error won’t happen again because the county’s tax software vendor will add a year-end checklist to verify that taxes have been calculated at appropriate rates. The due date for taxes on parcels affected by the change has been extended to Dec. 15. Taxpayers can deduct 3 percent from the increase if they pay by Dec. 15, but they will have to make the calculations on their own. Ross said there was no way to provide a printed explanation that covered all the payment possibilities because many taxpayers already have paid all or part of their bill. Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail Tax bills include increase for error ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker dvd-r Distance Education Computer Security Ztech Media Hosting Sports Equipment Online Casino Salvia Divinorum Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation Online Pharmacy Online Casino Reviews Myspace Home Equity Loans Windermere Van Vleet Rogue Valley Travel Discount Hotel Reservations Southern Oregon Loans Online Casino News Casino Gambling Sites Budget Website Templates Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Advertisement s