SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2016
DISASTER PREP
M
y mother had a
saying, “Christmas
comes the same
time every year, two weeks
too early!” She was an ele-
mentary teacher and there
were always parties, pro-
grams, pageants and presents
for which to prepare.
This year seems no differ-
ent.
December’s calendar fills
up pretty quickly and the
“Big Day” will be upon us
in no time.
Every year I read reports
of Christmas tragedy in the
form of house fires. Make
sure your home and family
are safe this season by fol-
lowing a few simple safety
rules.
Inspect your Christmas
tree lighting for worn wiring,
overloaded circuits and and
if you are still using those
screw-in bulbs, make sure
there are no broken bulbs or
exposed filaments.
Holiday preparedness
One of every three
Christmas tree fires is
caused by electrical prob-
lems. Christmas tree fires
are not common, but when
they occur, they are likely to
be serious. On average, one
of every 40 reported home
Christmas tree structure fires
results in a death, compared
to an average of one death
per 142 total reported struc-
ture fires.
A heat source too close to
the tree causes one of six
reported Christmas tree fires.
More than half (56 per-
cent) of home candle fires
are a result of something
flammable situated too close
to the flame. There are a sig-
nificant higher percentage of
candle-related fires in
December than other months
of the year.
If you’re still putting up a
“real” tree every year, make
sure you keep it well-
watered. If you’ve ever
burned your tree after
Christmas, you know how
fast it can go up.
Here are a few more tips
from the experts:
• Keep candles at least 12
inches away from anything
that burns.
• Make sure your tree is at
least three feet away from
heat sources like fireplaces,
radiators, space heaters, can-
dles or heat vents.
• Get rid of your
Christmas tree immediately
after the holiday.
• Connect no more than
three strings of mini lights,
or no more than 50 lights of
the screw-in variety.
Oh, and one more thing:
• Keep your fire extin-
guisher handy. It takes less
than 30 seconds for a dry
tree to go up in flames.
No time to run out to the
garage and grab it.
Winter is statistically the
worst for home fires. Cold
The
Florence
Area
Veterans’ Relief Agency
(FAVRA) is a nonprofit sub-
sidiary of the local American
Legion Francis M. Yost Post
59.
FAVRA is a group of local
veterans helping other local
veterans with limited, emer-
gency, stop-gap grant funding
for food, shelter, utilities,
medical needs, transportation
or other personal, immediate
needs.
It requires the recipient to
meet a simple qualification
process, after which the veter-
an usually has a check or cash
weather coupled with holi-
day decorations and over-
burdened heating and electri-
cal systems boost the dan-
ger-factor significantly.
Take care of your family
this year and walk through
your home with “fresh eyes”
looking for anything that
may cause a fire.
Let’s keep our families
and homes safe this holiday
season.
Here’s wishing you and
yours a very Merry
Christmas!
______________________
Dave Robinson is the
postmaster in Bandon, Ore.,
and author of “Disaster
Prep for the Rest of Us.” He
may be contacted at disas-
terprep.dave@gmail.com.
Visit his website for more
disaster preparedness tips,
www.disasterprepdave.blogs
pot.com.
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Property tax relief offered for storm damage
Property taxes on real prop-
erty that has experienced a
casualty loss due to either an
“Act of God” or a fire during
the tax year may be eligible
for a reduction of tax —
referred to as a “proration of
tax.”
This property tax relief
applies to significant damage
to taxable structures (homes
and businesses) — not person-
al property, such as vehicles
and building contents.
“We want to be proactive in
reaching out to taxpayers dur-
ing times of hardship,” said
Mike Cowles, Lane County
assessor. “The process for
requesting a proration of taxes
is fairly quick and simple and
our staff is available to answer
any questions.”
The application and addi-
tional information can also be
found at www.lanecounty.org
/AT.
Applications are also avail-
able at the Lane County
Department of Assessment
and Taxation, located in the
Public Services Building at
125 East Eighth Ave., in
Eugene.
The office is located on the
lower level and is open from
10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday
through Thursday.
Property owners can also
call 541-682-4321 during
those same hours.
Property owners are encour-
aged to file applications for
property tax relief as soon as
possible to assist in accurately
determining real property
damage. The law requires that
the application for proration of
property taxes be submitted to
the Assessment and Taxation
Office no later than the end of
the tax year in which the dam-
age or destruction occurs, or
60 days after the date the prop-
erty
was
damaged
or
destroyed, whichever is later.
If property was damaged or
destroyed by the recent storm,
property owners must file an
application for proration by
June 30, 2017.
For damaged property, the
percentage of assessed value
lost is multiplied by the total
tax on the account for the
month the property was dam-
aged and for each month the
property remains damaged
during the tax year.
The property owner is
required to notify the asses-
sor’s office when the damage
has been repaired. The refund
is made when the property is
repaired or the fiscal year
State to hold refunds until February
SALEM
—
Oregon
Department of Revenue offi-
cials have announced that no
personal income tax refunds
for the 2016 tax year will be
issued until after Feb. 15,
2017.
The refund hold will allow
data-matching of amounts
claimed on returns to what
employers report on Forms W-
2 and 1099.
“Data-matching
reduces
potential refund fraud, and
fraud is a problem we want to
tackle from every direction we
can,” said Ken Ross, manager
of
Revenue’s
anti-fraud
efforts. “The IRS, Oregon, and
other states are taking similar
measures to prevent potential
fraud, capitalizing on the
requirement that employers
submit W-2 and 1099 informa-
tion by Jan. 31.”
Ross referred to the IRS’
announcement earlier this year
that taxpayers claiming the
Earned Income Tax Credit or
the Additional Child Tax
Credit won’t see their federal
refunds until after Feb. 15.
Revenue stops millions of
dollars in fraudulent refunds
each year: In 2015, anti-fraud
efforts stopped $6.9 million in
fraudulent refunds claimed on
almost 4,000 different returns.
Fraudsters are known to
submit fraudulent returns
early, trying to go unnoticed
among the many early filers
requesting legitimate refunds.
Among returns filed before
Feb. 15, approximately 90 per-
cent request a refund.
Deadlines for press releases
are Mondays and Thursdays
by noon. Email them to:
P RESS R ELEASES
@T HE S IUSLAW N EWS . COM .
“No one wants to hold up a
taxpayer’s legitimate refund,
and taxpayers have been pretty
understanding of the need to
combat fraud,” Ross said. “We
take very seriously our respon-
sibility to make sure tax dol-
lars go to the legitimate own-
ers and not to fraudsters.”
Visit www.oregon.gov/dor
to get forms, check the status
of your refund or make pay-
ments, call 503-378-4988 (or
800-356-4222 toll-free) or
email questions.dor@oregon.
gov for more information.
For TTY for hearing or
speech impaired, call 800-886-
7204.
During peak calling times,
you may experience an
extended wait.
ends, whichever comes first.
The value on the account for
the tax year in which the dam-
age or destruction occurred is
not reduced.
Oregon law allows only a
proration of the tax, not an
adjustment to the value in the
current tax year. The property
value will always be the value
of the account as of the assess-
ment date for the tax year in
which the taxes are being pro-
rated.
When the account is reval-
ued on the assessment date
following the occurrence, any
loss in value will be noted and
reflected on the next year’s tax
statement.
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Dentures
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Immediate Dentures
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541-997-6054
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I can answer your
questions and address
your denture concerns.”
~ William Foster, LD
Financing: Citi Health Card
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E, OREGON
FLORENC
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SERVIN
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1890
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Natural Pet
way
1541 High
red
101 suffe
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Saturday
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that day.
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LLE M EYER
B Y C HANTE News
Siuslaw
C OAST C ENTRAL
W INCHESTER B AY • L AKESIDE • N ORTH B END • C OOS B AY • C HARLESTON • C OQU ILLE • B ANDON
MUSIC
Gems
Fossils
Agates
Gem,
Minerals
Mineral &
Vendors
Fossil Show
Lectures
Family Fun
The Rock Doc
Special Displays
in-hand within 24 hours.
The help FAVRA provides
stays anonymous, personal,
discrete and respectful.
It’s not a member of a gov-
ernment agency or VA; it
understand fellow veterans
and doesn’t ask anything from
them or track them. They sim-
ply verify their status and
then help them.
Those who would like to
join FAVRA, or make a tax-
deductible contribution, can
visit FAVRA.org.
To contact FAVRA for
assistance, call 541-590-
0395.
Just in time for Christmas!
from the
HEART
Virtuoso guitarist Jesse Cook
comes to Florence
COVER
STORY
Fest
16
7
OF CONNIE
COURTESY
SPINNER
BLACK
B Y D AVE R OBINSON
Special to the Siuslaw News
Local veterans group
seeks to help other vets
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