County residents will find higher tax bills arriving soon.

Byline: SCOTT MABEN The Register-Guard

Ready or not, here they come. Property tax bills will arrive in the mail by the end of the month and most everyone will shell out more money than last year.

Overall, taxes are up about 5.6 percent, county Assessor Jim Gangle said Thursday. Total collections will be about $282 million, up from $267 million last year, he said.

Eugene residents who live in the Eugene School District will pay an average of $2,598, up $205 from 2001. That's mainly due to new school and city bonds and continuation of a public library operating levy, all of which voters approved in the May primary election.

Average tax bills will climb by $201 in Coburg, $137 in Junction City, $111 in unincorporated Santa Clara and $109 in unincorporated River Road.

Other increases average $74 for Eugene residents in the Bethel School District, $60 in Creswell, $54 in Cottage Grove, $37 in Springfield and $31 in Oakridge.

The assessor's office said average tax bills will go down in only two places: Florence and Marcola.

Fine-tuning of property assessments in Florence neighborhoods explains the slight decrease there, Gangle said. Taxes in Marcola are going down about 14 percent because school bonds there have been paid off, he said.

Another reason property tax collections are up is the addition of $709 million to the tax rolls from new construction and from changes such as land divisions and removal of tax exemptions, Gangle said.

The total taxable value of property in the county rose 3.6 percent, to $18.7 billion, he said.

"While the nationwide economy has been in a recession," Gangle said, "the Lane County real estate market has remained positive. This has been fueled by mortgage interest rates that are the lowest they have been in years."

Property tax rates are capped for local governments, schools, park and recreation districts, fire districts and other taxing entities, and statewide measures approved in past years limit the increase in assessed property values to 3 percent a year.

Not counting additions to the tax rolls, the county noted a decrease in assessed value of $234 million. That's largely due to Hynix's successful appeal earlier this year of property taxes on its west Eugene computer chip plant, Gangle said. The company won a $1.89 million tax refund, he said.

Taxes are going up in Eugene primarily because voters in May approved an $8.7 million, 20-year bond issue to build a new downtown fire station and a "live fire" training center, and renewed a four-year, $19.6 million library levy.

Also, voters living in the Eugene School District approved a $116 million, 20-year bond issue to build four new schools and pay for an array of upgrades, additions and repairs at nearly every school in the district.

The estimated average cost of the school bonds - based on last year's average home value of $143,3000 - was $134 a year. The new average home value for Eugene School District residents is $148,300.

The value of the average Eugene home rose between 3.5 percent and 4.5 percent this year, Gangle said, while taxes increased between 8.6 percent and 8.8 percent.

For the first time, this year's tax bills will break out how much goes to urban renewal agencies, even though those taxing districts have been part of county collections for decades. Eugene, Veneta and Cottage Grove have urban renewal districts and Coburg will have one starting next year.

In rural areas, many property owners will find a surcharge of at least $18 for wildfire protection imposed by the Legislature to replenish the Oregon Forest Land Protection Fund. Those with improvements on their land will be charged at least another $38 for fire protection.

The surcharges are in addition to any taxes paid to rural fire protection districts and go up according to the amount of land and improvements, Gangle said.

More than 164,000 tax statements will be mailed by Oct. 25. Taxpayers who don't receive a statement by Nov. 1 should phone the Department of Assessment and Taxation at 682-4321.

Full payments made by Nov. 15 qualify for a 3 percent discount. If two-thirds is paid by that date, a 2 percent discount is applied to the portion paid. For those paying in thirds, due dates are Nov. 15, Feb. 15 and May 15.

To avoid penalties and to ensure the discount is received, taxpayers should mail their payments a few days in advance of the Nov. 15 deadline, Gangle said.

Many homeowners pay taxes monthly into escrow accounts held by their mortgage companies, which then pay the tax bills forwarded to them by the county each fall.

Gangle advises anyone who has refinanced in the past year to confirm with the new lender who is responsible for paying the bill. Missed payments may result in penalties, and refunds from duplicate payments can take several months.

Taxpayers who wish to appeal their property valuation to the county Board of Property Tax Appeals must do so before Dec. 31. Forms are available at the county's deeds and records department and at the office of assessment and taxation, both in the Public Service Building at 125 E. Eighth Ave. in Eugene.

Values are based on county estimates of real-market value as of Jan. 1, 2002.

More information is available on the county's Web site at www.co.lane.or.us/at. Taxpayers can also phone [phone] or drop by the tax information counter on the lower level of the Public Service Building.