Home prices are rising, but what about property taxes?
and KATU Web Staff
PORTLAND, Ore. - Housing prices are up and realtors are scrambling to keep up with demand, which should spell good news for the local housing industry and property tax collectors, but is it?
With the higher home values, you might think the county is rolling in dough from the extra property taxes and our schools should not be having any money problems.
However, Multnomah County officials say that is not the case because Measure 50, for example, limits tax hikes.
"It doesn't balance," says Bob Ellis, Multnomah County Tax Assessor. "In the last three years, the growth and assessed value averaging has been under the inflation level. It was 1.5 percent two years ago, 2.5 percent a year ago and 3.5 percent last year. So the increase in taxes has been far less than the increase in expenses for all the levying bodies."
What makes matters worse, county officials say, is that 15 percent of the property actually devalues in any given year.
Also, when big companies like Fujitsu pull out, the financial pain to the county is even greater.
"When you have a property that's in the 10 largest taxpayers in the state leave the county, it really hurts as far as the tax collections," says Ellis. "And it takes a lot of new construction to offset a loss like that."
So is anyone the winner in this environment of soaring home prices? Yes. Where home values have gone up the most, the property owners still pay no more than 3 percent.
"I would say areas like the St. Johns and Irvington neighborhoods have seen some large increases, much more than the average county," says Ellis. "Areas like Laurelhurst and Eastmoreland had a lot of appreciation before Measure 50 passed and haven't seen as much since, as has most of the west side of Portland, especially the West Hills. The values they're paying taxes on are much closer to the actual value of the property."