General Information and Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Information such as general property information, sales and deed information, assessed values, and improvement information is available through the County’s tax map feature, Intermap. At the Intermap site, searches can be done using a Situs Address, Account Number, or Tax Lot ID. At the Map Location, scroll down the page to the section named Additional Information. Click on the Sub Report named Assessment & Taxation Information.

Go to Intermap

For fiscal year 2022-23, the majority of taxpayers, approximately 187,500 accounts, will receive tax statements that have increased when compared with last year. Approximately 172,500 accounts will have tax increases between 0 and 5 percent, and 15,000 accounts will have tax increases over 5 percent. Additionally, approximately 12,500 taxpayer accounts will reflect a tax decrease. These reductions are primarily due to local option levies expiring, expired bonds, compression, or the taxing districts levying a lesser amount. See the attached listing of typical residential properties with examples of values and taxes for typical houses in various parts of the County.

Many factors can affect the amount of your tax bill. If you live in a taxing district that has new voter approved bonds or local option levies, your property taxes may increase more than 3%. If you made any major improvements or changes to your property prior to the assessment date of January 1, your property taxes may increase more than 3%.

All property owners receive a tax statement. If you did not receive a tax statement by November 1, you should call the tax collections office at 503-846-8801 or go to www.washcotax.org to view or print a copy of your statement.

Please contact the Cartography Division at 503-846-8871 to report ownership corrections.

More information on ownership corrections

At the time the property tax bills were printed, the ownership of the property had not been transferred in the Assessment & Taxation system. In order for the new owner to receive a bill, please contact the tax office at 503-846-8801. In most instances, the ownership has been updated and a new bill can be generated and forwarded to the new owner.

The new improvements will be appraised at market value. This additional value will then be adjusted to the average level of other property and added to the current assessed value. For example, this year the adjustment factor for residential property is 0.514. This factor is called the CPR or “Changed Property Ratio”. The assessment date is January 1, which means that the tax bill you receive in October is based on the actual value in place on the previous January 1. For example, if your house was under construction and only 50% complete on January 1, the tax bill payable on November 15, would reflect 50% of the value of the finished house.

There are four major reasons your property taxes can increase by more than 3%.

1. If you live in a taxing district that has new voter-approved Bonds or Local Option Levies, your property taxes may increase more than the anticipated 3%. There are new levies or bonds approved or reauthorized by the voters that will be reflected in this year’s tax bill.

2. If you made any major renovations or changes to your property in the 12 months prior to the assessment date of January 1, your property taxes may increase more than the anticipated 3%. The next two reasons are more complicated and require the definition of key terms to help understand the process. These terms include: Assessed Value is the lower of the Real Market Value or the Maximum Assessed value. Real Market Value is the amount determined by the County Assessor for a property that would sell in an arm’s length transaction between a willing buyer and seller on January 1 of each year. Maximum Assessed Value is the taxable value limit established for each property and is allowed to increase each year by no more than 3%.

3. Your Assessed Value (AV) may have increased more than 3%. Under Oregon law, your AV is the lesser of your Real Market Value (RMV) and your Maximum Assessed Value (MAV). If your RMV has dropped below your MAV, it is possible for your RMV to increase more than 3% from last year yet still be less than your MAV. As the lesser of the two values, RMV then becomes your AV. Your taxes are calculated on the lower of the Real Market Value or the Maximum Assessed Value. This then becomes your Assessed Value.

4. The last reason is due to compression. The operating taxes for schools and local government are limited. Each account is tested to determine if the operating taxes based on the assessed value exceed the limit of $5.00 per $1,000 of RMV for schools and the $10.00 per $1,000 of RMV for local government. If the limit is reached, the tax bill is reduced (compression). As the market value increases, the difference between the market and the assessed values may increase as well. This reduces the chance for compression, but can also increase your tax liability if compared to a prior year’s tax that was in compression. If your account has been in compression, it is possible that as the real market values increase you will see an increase in your property tax bill by more than 3%.

For fiscal year 2022-23, property tax statements account for a total of $1.385 billion, which will pay for the services mentioned above. These services are provided by 62 local taxing districts throughout the County. This is an increase of 6% or $76 million compared to last year. The increase in taxes is due to several factors including the 3% increase in assessed value on most properties, additional value from new construction activity, and new or increased taxing district levies. Please see our 2022 Fact Sheet for more information.

The majority of taxpayers, approximately 187,500 accounts, will receive tax statements that have increased when compared with last year. Approximately 175,500 accounts will have tax increases between 0-5% and 15,000 accounts will have tax increases over 5%. Additionally, approximately 12,500 taxpayer accounts will reflect a tax decrease. These reductions are primarily due to local option levies expiring, expired bonds, compression, or the taxing districts levying a lesser amount. See the attached listing of typical residential properties with examples of values and taxes for typical houses in various parts of the County.

You may appeal the real market, maximum assessed, specially assessed, or assessed value of your property to the Board of Property Tax Appeals no later than December 31. You can get petition forms and information by calling 503-846-3854. These forms are also available online.

Delinquent taxes are included in the amount listed in the "Payment Options" on the front of the tax statement.

Call the collections office at 503-846-8801 if you have any questions.

Interest on any past due amounts accrue on the 16th of each month at a rate of 16% annually or 1 1/3 per month.

All payments are applied to the most delinquent tax year.

You may have received more than one property tax statement because a tax lot is split by taxing boundaries.

Generally, you will also receive more than one property tax statement if you own both a manufactured structure and the land on which it resides.