Oregon Property Tax

Oregon runs two limits from two different ballot measures, and they are routinely confused with each other. Measure 50 (1997) put a limit on the growth of taxable value. Measure 5 (1990) put a limit on the tax itself, expressed in dollars per thousand of value. A bill can move because of either one, and in opposite directions.

In this section

• Measure 50 and the maximum assessed value — the 103% test, and why the MAV is not simply last year’s figure plus 3%.
• New construction and the changed property ratio — why a new house is taxed on a fraction of its value, and what counts as an exception event.
• Your tax statement — what arrives before October 25, and how compression appears on it.
• Appealing your value — the board, the Tax Court, and what the counties accept as evidence.
• Oregon property tax deadlines — the assessment date, the statement, the December 31 filing and the installments.

The three values

• Real market value (RMV) — the assessor’s opinion of what the property would sell for: the amount in cash an informed buyer would pay an informed seller, neither acting under compulsion, in an arm’s-length transaction as of the assessment date.
• Maximum assessed value (MAV) — a limit, not an opinion of value. Assuming the property has not changed, it is the greater of 103% of the prior year’s assessed value or 100% of the prior year’s MAV.
• Assessed value (AV) — the lower of the MAV or the RMV. This is the figure the tax rate is applied to.

The tax is the lower of two calculations

Two calculations are performed every year, and your bill is the lower:

1. Assessed value × your levy code area’s tax rate, plus any special assessments; and
2. Real market value × the Measure 5 limits — $5 per $1,000 for education taxes and $10 per $1,000 for general government — plus the amounts for items that are excluded from those limits, such as bond levies and some special assessments, which are computed on the assessed value instead.

When the second calculation comes out lower, the property is compressed. That is why an Oregon bill can behave in ways that neither the 3% limit nor a change in value explains: losing compression savings is one of the stated reasons a bill rises by more than 3%, along with a change in your levy code area’s rate and an exception event on the property.

Who does what

• The county assessor values the property as of January 1, computes the maximum assessed value, and prepares the roll. It does not set your tax rate.
• The Department of Revenue appraises certain industrial and utility property and allocates utility values to county rolls. Appeals about DOR-appraised property go straight to the Tax Court, not to the county board.
• The county Board of Property Tax Appeals — named the Property Valuation Appeals Board in some counties — hears appeals about the current year’s values, after the tax statement arrives and until December 31.
• The Oregon Tax Court takes the case next: the Magistrate Division first, then the Regular Division, then the Supreme Court.

Worked example (illustrative)

Illustrative numbers only, and the rate is invented — Oregon rates are set per levy code area and the Measure 5 amounts below ignore excluded items, which are added on top.

1. Inputs: the assessor’s real market value is $520,000. Last year’s assessed value was $310,000 and last year’s MAV was $330,000. The illustrative tax rate is $18.50 per $1,000 of assessed value.
2. Step — the MAV test: the greater of $310,000 × 1.03 = $319,300 or $330,000 is $330,000.
3. Step — the assessed value: the lower of the MAV ($330,000) or the RMV ($520,000) is $330,000.
4. Step — calculation 1: 330 × $18.50 = $6,105.
5. Step — calculation 2: the RMV × the Measure 5 limits is 520 × $15.00 = $7,800. Calculation 1 is lower, so the bill is $6,105 and the property is not compressed.
6. Change one input: if the RMV were $380,000 instead, calculation 2 would be 380 × $15.00 = $5,700, which is lower than $6,105 — the bill would be $5,700 and the property would be compressed by $405.

What this tells you: your bill is not simply your value multiplied by a rate, and the 3% everyone quotes applies to only one of the three figures. The assessed value is where a fall in the market actually reaches your bill, and compression is where the Measure 5 limits do.

What it does not tell you: whether your RMV is right — that is the one figure an appeal to the county board is designed to test, and even a successful reduction may not change your bill. The appeal page explains the two conditions under which it does.