Illinois Valley News

Like many people, Kerby resident John Bowler has kept close eye on the real estate market and its various fluctuations throughout the past few years.

In the process, Bowler said he has become concerned about the ability of the county assessor“s office to accurately determine real market values, given the low volume of home sales in the Illinois Valley as of late.

Bowler cared enough about the issue to bring it before the county board of commissioners during its July 26 meeting at the Josephine County Bldg. in Downtown Cave Junction.

“It is very clear that starting last year, 2009, and continuing into this year, that the real market in the valley dropped below the Measure 50 assessed value,“ Bowler said in a telephone interview. “What that means is that peoples“ property taxes should be dropping. There are so few sales that it must be difficult for the assessor to get an accurate real market value, so it isn“t necessarily going to happen.“

Especially concerning to Bowler are the current values for all of the newer houses constructed in Cave Junction during the 2005-07 building boom.

“For those properties, their actual sales price, the price at which they will sell, has dropped very substantially,“ he said. “It does seem pretty certain that most peoples“ real market value is going down.“

Further complicating matters is the fact that many of the home sales happening in current market conditions are short sales or foreclosures.

However, Josephine County Assessor Connie Roach said that her office is doing all it can to ensure a fair property tax rate for residents.

“We are finding sufficient sales, and we probably have to factor in the foreclosures to determine the market value in the Cave Junction area,“ Roach said. “We are able to do our job.“

Roach said that many properties in the Illinois Valley likely will be taxed at their real market value, instead of their assessed value.

One of the intentions of Measure 50, which was passed by voters after being referred by the Legislature in 1997, was to put a cap on the growth of property tax rates, Roach said.

“We have always compared that cap to the market value. When the market values started to drop, more properties were taxed on the market value,“ she said. “When the market turns around and starts moving up again, and as the market value goes back above the cap, the cap will protect them from the high swings up.“

The system is designed to prevent massive and sudden increases in tax rates, Roach said. That can change if property owners make improvements to their houses or partition their lots.

“Those kinds of things will have an impact,“ Roach said. “But if you“re not doing anything to your property and it is status quo, then there“s a steadiness to what the taxes are.“

Roach said that the property tax cap imposed by Measure 50 has lead to a drastic reduction in the number of appeals filed at the local level. She added, though, that under the current conditions, “I anticipate that we might see more appeals.“

In terms of the short sales and foreclosures, Roach said that those selling prices also are factored when determining market values.

“We do a statistical analysis of all of that to determine what“s appropriate. We talk to buyers and sellers to help us determine what sales are valid sales for our study,“ Roach said. “The system is working like it should, I think, as far as that goes.“

Options are available for property owners who feel that their tax bills are too high. Roach said that she and her staff make every effort to accommodate and work with people in those situations.

If that approach fails, citizens still can go to the Property Tax Board of Appeals.

That three-member group consists of one government representative and two citizens at large with knowledge of real estate. It meets between February and April to consider appeals filed before Dec. 31.

“Basically, when somebody is appealing, they need to be able to show the board the reason why they believe it“s less than what we“re valuing it as,“ Roach said. “If they have some persuasive evidence, they possibly can convince the board to reduce it. But they have to have some evidence.“

Aggrieved property owners can take their cases to court if they can“t convince the property tax board of their claims, Roach said, but the best approach is to simply work with the assessor“s office towards an acceptable resolution.

“There are a lot of opportunities for them as long as they do it timely,“ Roach said. “If someone does have issues with their property that we were not aware of, we want to know about it. We want the value to be right. If people are concerned and have a problem that we should be addressing and we“re not, those are the people we want to hear from.“

For more information, phone the assessor“s office at 541-474-5260.

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