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Property tax recipients

Multnomah County expects to collect $1.22 billion in property taxes this year. The money is distributed among 69 taxing districts. Following are the county’s averages for where property taxes go.

Education	33 percent
Cities	30 percent
Multnomah County	24 percent
Urban renewal	9 percent
Metro	2 percent
Special districts	1 percent
TriMet	0.5 percent
Port of Portland	0.5 percent

Source: Multnomah County

The city of Portland hopes voters next month will approve a ballot measure that would increase property taxes to raise money for capital improvement projects. Multnomah County and TriMet have similar hopes for other ballot measures.

But political experts say that while it’s never a given that such measures will pass, it’s even less likely this time around.

Individually, the measures don’t necessarily add up to much. The three measures combined would increase property taxes $62.50 a year for an owner of a house assessed at $250,000.

, for TriMet, would increase property taxes 8 cents for every $1,000 of assessed property value – or about $20 for a $250,000 home for each of the next 20 years.

“This bond is all about improving public transportation for the elderly and disabled,” said Mary Fetsch, a TriMet spokeswoman. The $125 million bond would improve access to about 300 bus stops, replace 150 old buses with new, low-floor buses and replace 100 lift vehicles, which are used for door-to-door services, she said.

is for a general obligation bond for the city of Portland’s fire department. The $72.4 million bond would charge property owners an extra 12 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value – or $30 a year on a $250,000 home.

The bulk of the bond would help pay for a new fire station along the Willamette River, according to Jack Graham, a division manager with Portland Fire & Rescue. The rest would go toward purchasing new fire engines and emergency response vehicles, he said.

Meanwhile, Multnomah County’s proposes a five-year levy that would charge property owners 5 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. This would be $12.50 a year for someone who owns a $250,000 home. The levy would fund operations at the Oregon Historical Society’s museum and library.

“In years past people tend to underestimate the financial impact of these (measures that increase property taxes) and vote in favor of them,” said Tony Rufolo, professor of urban studies and planning at Portland State University.

This year, however, home and building owners will be hit with increased property taxes, even as home prices in the Portland-metro area have dropped drastically. Adding any more increases to those taxes could encounter resistance, Rufolo said.

Such resistance may not wane anytime soon. Rufolo and others who have observed Oregon’s political scene say voters may be getting tired of the nickel-and-dime effect of two measures passed several years ago.

Measure 5, passed by voters in 1992, capped the amount a property owner can be charged in general government taxes and in school taxes. But it didn’t cap bonds, so bond measures have since exploded.

Then, in 1997, Measure 50 controlled the growth of property taxes. The legislation primarily changed the permanent rates, reduced assessed values and limited annual growth of assessed values. Initially, property taxes rolled back and massive tax growth was curbed during boom years. But taxes don’t decrease when a home loses real value because most are based on assessed value.

“It seems like these capital improvement measures, being masqueraded as general obligation bonds, are being asked for at a poor time,” Rufolo said. “Why not two years ago? Why not next election? It just seems like bad timing to ask for money for improvements when people can’t afford their own improvements.”

Developers who own large portfolios of properties would of course experience bigger hits. But as Art DeMuro, owner of Venerable Properties, pointed out, those costs almost always are passed on to businesses that lease spaces.

“All of our leases have pass-through clauses in them, so the property tax increases get passed along to the tenants,” DeMuro said. “So, I try not to take them into account when voting. But if I was one of those businesses I would be paying attention to it.”