Portland Area Property Taxes
Posted on: July 11, 2007
Photograph by Sarah Harmon of
Hood Photography |
Property taxes in Oregon are assessed on a rate-based system, or millage rate per $1000 of the home’s Maximum Assessed Value. Oregon’s Constitutional Amendment, Measure 50, limits the amount of taxable property value; this measure also limits the MAV’s(Maximum Assessed Value) annual appreciation to 3%. Measure 5 further limits the amount counties can collect from tax payers to pay for schools and general government. The above link is a great description of how our property tax system works; here is the quick and simple version:
- The Tax Rate is set by local district’s (in most cases this is a permanent rate); it is calculated using the district’s tax levy amount / taxable assessed property value. All taxable property within the district will have the same rate. Portland area rates range between $14.00 and $20.30.
- The assessor’s office sets the taxable value for each parcel in the county. This amount is limited by Measure 50 and Measure 5, keeping yearly bills from escalating as quickly as our Portland appreciation rates rise. We have seen appreciation rates as high as 21% in recent years, and May 2007’s average appreciation rate was 10%.
- The annual property tax bill is calculated using the above rates in this way: a $300,000 home in Fairview with a mill-rate of $16.16 would pay $4,848 in annual property taxes.
Collected property taxes support public education (K-12 schools and community colleges), general government, and the local jurisdiction’s debt (bonds issued for improvement projects); the following chart illustrates how the property taxes are distributed in seven Multnomah County districts and the local millage rates.
You won’t need to figure out what property taxes will cost you when searching for a home. The annual property tax amount is included at the bottom of the full listing you receive from your Realtor.
Written by Heidi Aspinwall, Broker for portlandrealestate.com.