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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 2003)
T h e IN D E P E N D E N T, N ovem ber 6, 2003 P age 5 Market value, assessments increased at approximately same rate From page 1 in the bonded debt levy for the C latskanie School District. Res id e n tia l p ro p e rtie s in rural Rainier saw bills that w ere 2.83 percent higher than last year, slightly less than three percent due to small decreases in the rate fo r C o lu m b ia C o u n ty ’s bonded debt levy and the local option levy for C olum bia 9-1-1. A to ta l of $38,642,111 in property taxes w as billed for the county, cities, schools and special districts. That am ount w as 2.11 percent m ore than was billed last year. In addition, a total of $1,082,416 w as col lecte d fo r such th in g s as drainage districts assessm ents and the O regon D epartm ent of F orestry’s fire patrol special as sessm ents. C ounty wide, the m arket va l ue of all taxable property in creased from $3.58 billion to $3.65 billion, an increase of only 1.88 percent. Throughout the county, m ost re sid e n tia l property m arket values, based on sales prior to January 1, 2003, saw no incre ase this year. The exceptions w ere a l.. . - lix-. > -ÍA‘. *“f <1 H I ! one percent increase inside the C ity of St. Helens, a fou r pe r cent increase inside the C ity of C olum bia City, and a three pe r cent increase inside the C ity of C latskanie. R esidential proper ties in rural areas also stayed the sam e except in Vernonia, w h e re th e y in c re a s e d th re e percent. The m arket value of c o m m e rc ia l p ro p e rtie s in creased nine percent in St. H e lens, w as unchanged in S cap poose, and decreased tw o pe r cen t in V ernonia, C latskanie and Rainier. However, Linhares pointed o u t th a t p ro p e rty ta x e s are ba sed on a sse sse d valu es. M easure 50 created a new va l ue, “m axim um assessed va l ue,” for each piece of property. The m axim um assessed value w as established in 1997-98 by taking the 1995-96 m arket val ue and reducing it 10 percent. The assessed value is the low er of real m arket value or the m axim um assessed value. The c o u n ty ’s total assessed va lu e th is year is $2,983,801,023, or 2.67 per cent higher than last year. The increase is m ade up o f the three percent due to reductions in non-residential property va l ue. C o u n ty w ide, in d u s tria l property decreased by $28.69 m illio n , due la rg e ly to an $18.71 m illio n re d u c tio n in Boise Paper S olutions’ paper mill in St. Helens. Forest land also decreased in value by over $19 m illion due to a recent ap praisal by the O regon D epart m ent of R evenue of all forest land in the state. O perating revenue for taxing districts is directly tied to a s sessed value under M easure 5 0 ’s rate based system . P rior to M easure 50 in 1997, taxing dis tricts had a “tax base" that w as allow ed to increase an auto m atic six percent per year. If values w ent up o r dow n in the district, the tax rate per th o u sand of assessed value w as adjusted to raise tha t am ount of money. U nder the current sys tem , taxing districts only re ceive an increase in operating funds if the assessed value in the ir district goes up, unless voters have passed a local o p tion levy for operating pu rpo s Alcoholics Anonymous Mondays Alcoholics Anonymous Saturdays American Legion Post #119 2nd Thursday Arts & Crafts Society 2nd Thursday Boosters 2nd Wednesday Boy Scout Troop 201 Tuesdays Boy Scout Troop 860 Wednesdays Cemetery Beautification Comm 2nd Thursday Chamber of Commerce 2nd Wednesday Cub Scout Pack 201 Scout Cabin Doll Club 4th Tuesday 1st Tuesday Friends of the Library Hands On Art Committee 3rd Wednesday Home Extension Club 3rd Thursday Izaak Walton League 3rd Thursday 1st & 3rd Tuesdays Lions Club Nehalem Valley Car Club Pioneer Museum Preschool Story Hour Mondays Upper Nehalem C.P.A.C. 2nd Tuesday Vernonia Airport Committee 3rd Wednesday Vernonia Cares Directors Vernonia City Council 1st & 3rd Mondays Vernonia Garden Group 1st Thursday 4th Saturday Vernonia Grange Vernonia Health Center 2nd Monday Vernonia Planning Comm. 1st Thursday Vernonia Pride Last Thursday Vernonia Ridge Riders 2nd Tuesday Vernonia RFPD Board 2nd Thursday Vernonia School Board 3rd Friday Vernonia Sr. Center Board Vem. Volunteer Ambulance Assoc. 1st Thursday Vernonia Volunteer Firefighters 2nd Monday 3rd Tuesday WOEC Directors Payment dates The due date for at least one third of property taxes is No vem ber 15, however, since that is a Saturday, the date is ex- s NO7EWBE« ; HHHlBÏBnda* VERNONIA es. At the sam e tim e, if values in a particular taxing district go dow n, the district will receive le ss o p e ra tin g m o ney from property taxes. “ I am asked all the tim e if districts are getting m ore m on ey b e ca u se of all the new houses that are being built,” Linhares said. “ My answ er is yes, but it takes a whole bunch of new houses to really im pact revenu e. A t the sam e tim e, changes in industrial or utility value can have a huge im pact sim ply because the values are so m uch greater,” he con tin ued. O f the 36 taxing d istricts w hich levy a perm anent operat ing rate, only 12 will see rev enue increase by more than th re e p e rc e n t and one, C latskanie Scool District, will actually see operating revenue decline by nearly tw o percent. 2 9 18 23 30 3 10 17 24 1 4 5 6 7 8 11 12 13 14 15 18 1----------- 25 388 tended until Monday, N ovem ber 17. Property ow ners will re ceive a three percent discount if the entire am ount is paid by Nov. 17. If tw o thirds of the bill is paid by the 17th, there will be a tw o percent discount of that am ount. P aym e nts th a t are m ailed m ust be post m arked by Nov. 17. See your property tax bill for ad dition al installm ent dates. Property taxes m ay be paid at the Vernonia and C latskanie branches of W auna Federal C redit Union, all branches of St. H elen s F ederal C red it Union, and at Bank of the W est in St. Helens. However, if there are taxes owing from previous years, paym ent can not be tak en by the banks. Property ow ners may appeal the value of their property as in past years. However, if the ap peal results in a low er m arket value there would be a reduc tion in the taxes due only if the m arket value falls below the as sessed value. The deadline for filing an appeal is D ecem ber 31, 2003. A ppeal form s are available from the county. DECEMBER S M T W T F S 7 14 21 28 1 8 15 22 29 2 3 4 5 6 9 10 11 12 13 16 17 18 19 20 23 24 25 26 27 30 31 January 8 4 Il 1« 2S M T J « w 7 T F 8 I 2 « » 1» 3 12 IJ 14 I f I t 17 I * 20 J1 JJ 2J 24 I * 27 20 2» M 31 MiST-BIRKENFELD 6:30 p.m., Head Start Bldg. 7:00 p.m., Head Start Bldg. 627 Adams Ave./ 503-429-4000 2:00 p.m., City Library 7:30 p.m., VHS Library 7:00 p.m., Scout Cabin 7:00 p.m., LDS Church 7:00 p.m., Leonetti’s Grill Noon, Lew’s Place For Info Call 503-429-0188 1:00 p.m., Senior Center 7:00 p.m., Vernonia Library 7:00 p.m., Head Start Bldg. 10:30 a.m., Christian Church For location call 503-429-7193 6:30 p.m., Lew's Place For Info Call 503-429-4074 For Info Call 503-429-8134 10:30 a.m., City Library 7:00 p.m., City Hall 7:00 p.m., City Library For location call 503-429-1414 7:00 p.m., City Hall 7:00 p.m., Pioneer Museum 10:30 a.m., Grange Hall 6D0 p.m., 510 Bridge St. 7:00 p.m., City Hall For Info Call, 503-429-5201 7:00 p.m., City Library 7:00 p.m., Fire Station 8:00 p.m., District Office 1:00 p.m., Senior Center 7:00 p.m., Fire Station 7:00 p.m., Fire Station 7:00 p.m., WOEC M-BRFPD Board Business Mtg. 2nd Tuesday M-BRFPD Board Workshop 4th Tuesday M-B Ambulance Drill 1st & 2nd Thursdays M-B Fire Drill 1st & 2nd Wednesdays M-B Helping Circle 2nd Monday M-B SAR Drill 3rd Wednesday M-B Volunteer Assoc. 1st Tuesday Natal Grange 2nd Wednesday T.O.P.S. Mondays Upr Nehalem Watershed Council For date call 429-2401 7:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 6:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m., Main Fire Station Main Fire Station Main Fire Station Main Fire Station Main Fire Station Main Fire Station Main Fire Station Main Fire Station Main Fire Station Main Fire Station BANKS Alcoholics Anonymous Banks City Council Banks Planning Commission Banks School Board Banks Youth Group Chamber of Commerce C P O 14 Friends of the Library Lions Club Sunset Park Assoc. T.O.P.S. Tri-City RFPD Board W omen’s Aglow Fridays 8:00 p.m., Methodist Church 2nd Tuesday 7:30 p.m., City Hall Last Tuesday 7:00 p.m., City Hall 2nd Monday 7:30 p.m., Jr. High Library Sundays, Wednesdays 7:00 p.m., UMC Youth Bldg. 1st Thursday 12:30 p.m., Brown Derby 3rd Monday 7:00 p.m., City Library 2nd Tuesday 7:00 p.m., City Library 1st & 3rd Mondays 7:00 p.m., Schlegel Hall 3rd Wednesday 8:00 p.m., Gun Club Wedmesdays 7:00 p.m., Administration Bldg. 2nd Wednesday 7:00 p.m., Station 13 2nd Thursday 7:00 p.m., City Library (All meet in St. Helens unless otherwise noted.) Board of Commissioners Wednesdays 10 a.m., Courthouse Citizens for Senior Justice 2nd Tuesday 7:00 p.m., Sunset Park Church County Fair Board 2nd Monday 7:00 p.m., Fairgrounds 4-H Bldg. County Parks Commission 6.00 p.m., 1054 Oregon St. 3rd Monday Mental Health Advisory Comm. 10 a.m., 2nd Floor, Courthouse 3rd Tuesday Comm, on Children & Families 3rd Thursday 5:30 p.m. OSU Ext., 550 N. Hwy. 30 Local Alcohol & Drug Plann. Comm 2nd Tuesday 3:00 p.m., 2nd Floor, Courthouse Organizations and meeting dates not listed may be included by calling 429-9410 or by mail to The INDEPENDENT, 725 Bridge Street, Vernonia, OR 97064.
