Wasco County Property Tax article

This was a great article in the dalles chronicle last week!

By Keri Brenner

The Chronicle

     So far, Wasco County taxpayers will decide on three tax measures on the Nov. 2 ballot.
     A fourth could come in before the Sept. 2 filing deadline, but according to Wasco County Deputy Clerk Linda Brown: “I only have three right now – two from the county and one from the college.”
     Whether that’s good news or bad depends on who’s judging. People across the county have voiced pro and con positions on each ballot option.
     “It’s almost getting to be government by menu,” said Wasco County Commissioner Sherry Holliday. “I don’t really like it, but as counties are getting less and less able to raise revenue, we don’t have a whole lot of choice.”
     Of the three ballot measures already filed, only one of them — a local action levy to support the county’s animal shelter — would result in a property tax increase next year. Wasco County’s proposed levy of 21 cents per $1,000 of assessed value would result in an increase of roughly $22 per year on an average residential property assessed at about $104,000, according to Wasco County Assessor Tim Lynn.
     No property tax rate rise would be seen from the other two ballot measures:
     “I guess if you look at it that way, it might be a little more palatable to voters,” Lynn said of the three-ballot-measure-menu, adding that he was not taking a position one way or the other on any ballot issue.
     Wasco County’s other two ballot measures that wouldn’t raise the tax rate for property owners are:
     • a 1 percent lodging tax that affects hotel and motel guests only. Tourism interests are opposed, saying it would have a chilling effect on their business. Wasco County Commissioners say it is the only way they can repay debt on Columbia Gorge Discovery Center.
     • an $8.2 million Columbia Gorge Community College bond to match an $8 million state grant to build a $16 million “Workforce Innovation Center” for solar and wind energy jobs training at The Dalles campus. Bond repayments would not start until 2014, after a 1998 college bond is retired in 2013. The repayment level for the new bond would increase in 2026, when a 2005 district-wide college bond to build the Hood River campus retires in 2025.
     “If we don’t get the $8.2 million, we lose the $8 million from the state,” according to college President Frank Toda.
     A fourth ballot measure from the Northern Wasco County Park and Recreation District was still in limbo as of Friday. A park district board meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 18, when a pool bond was to be discussed, was cancelled due to lack of a quorum; it has been rescheduled to Monday, Aug. 23 at 6 p.m.
     If you add existing bond payments with levies and district taxes such as City of The Dalles or the library district, the average The Dalles taxpayer paid between $19 and $21 per $1,000 of assessed valuation in 2009-10. Tax code areas outside of The Dalles paid less.
     That existing rate would stay the same for 2010-11, Lynn said, since none of the six current Wasco County bonds would be retiring next year. 
     Current bonds include: NORCOR regional jail; the Oregon Veterans Home in The Dalles; the Mid-Columbia Fire & Rescue District; North Wasco County School District 21; and two bonds for Columbia Gorge Community College from 1998 (retires in 2013) and 2005 (retires in 2025). 
     If the animal shelter levy passes, taxpayers would add 21 cents per $1,000 to their existing tax bill. For a $100,000 home assessed at $20 per $1,000, the annual bill would rise from $2,000 to $2,021.
     “No companion animal deserves to be killed simply because it is homeless,” said Sheila Dooley, a proponent of the animal shelter levy and a board member of Home at Last Humane Society, which currently operates the shelter. “The funding provided by this measure will enable the shelter to continue to operate as a minimal kill shelter.”
     Dooley added that “animal control is not just about helping animals.” It’s about helping people – we help people with their animal problems.
     “It is people who have created the problem of homeless pets,” she added, “but the animals pay for it with their lives.”
     Wasco County Sheriff Rick Eiesland said he was not opposed to the animal shelter levy, “if that’s what people want,” he said. Also, he said he was not eager to have the shelter revert to his department’s responsibility, as it was before Home at Last took it over about five years ago.
     “I sure don’t want it back,” he said. At that time, the shelter euthanized dogs and cats that were not adopted within a few days, and the shelter was only open a few hours a day.
     However, Eiesland said he was concerned that focusing on the animal shelter would overshadow the need for continued funding for law enforcement, public safety and roads. 
     Even thought the animal shelter levy would pay about $100,000 to cover the cost of Eiesland’s animal control officer, Brad Heinige, and Heinige’s operations, Eiesland said he was skeptical that county leaders would bounce that money back to his department enough so that he could hire another road deputy.
     His staff has already dropped from 20 sworn officers in 2000 to 13 now, he said. He has enough to cover 20 hours a day in two shifts, but his staff count drops any lower, “we’re going to have to scale back the hours,” he said.
     County roads are seriously short on maintenance monies, and NORCOR regional jail is hanging on by a shoestring after Hood River County was unable to pay its $130,000 budgeted amount, Eiesland said.
     NORCOR was getting by from daily fees paid to house federal marshals’ prisoners, he added. 
     “People in Wasco County need to prioritize what services they’re going to want,” Eiesland said. “I’d love to save every dog, but if it’s going to be at the cost of one human life, then not.
     “I know people will argue with me,” Eiesland said, “but my job is to protect human life.”
     Tyler Stone, Wasco County administrative officer, said if the levy passes, the $100,000 from animal control would go back into the county’s general fund. He said it was not yet decided if or how that money would be redistributed.
     Lynn, meanwhile, said every Wasco County taxpayer’s situation will be slightly different, stemming from the relationship between their property’s tax assessment value and its real market value — or the value it would be worth if put up for sale.
     In 2009-10, the average assessed tax value of Wasco County residential properties was only 55 percent of their real market value, Lynn said. In addition, the average real market value of Wasco County homes dropped 17 percent in 2009-10, he said.
     Those numbers determine whether a taxpayer’s bill is affected by Oregon tax measures 5 (1990) and 50 (1997). Those measures limit tax rate increases for some property owners, depending on the relationship between real market value and tax assessed value, Lynn said. 
     On balance, whether people pay $22 more next year for the animal shelter and start repaying the Columbia Gorge Community College District bonds in 2014, if all three Nov. 2 ballot measures pass, “the bottom line is, people will be paying more,” Lynn said. 
     “It can vary greatly,” Lynn added. “It depends on the neighborhood.”