Falling tax rates

Tax rate plummets due to levy cuts, increases in property values

NEWS EDITOR

Taxes in the city of Medford will stay about the same or drop slightly for many property owners as a large drop in the tax rate is matched, and in some cases surpassed, by a large jump in residential and commercial property assessed values.

The city formally set the tax rate on Tuesday night, but the county’s online tax information system already had the new rates and tax calculations in place on Monday morning. The aggregate tax rate combines the levies from the county, city, school district and technical college district. These tax levies are then divided by the total assessed value of the community to assign the local tax rate. To this the state tax credit is applied to reduce the rate.

Last year’s combined tax rate in the city of Medford was $26.67 per $1,000 of value. The rate approved at the city council meeting this week was $19.04 per $1,000 of value, a drop of more than $7.63 per $1,000 of value. Assuming the assessed value of a $100,000 home in the city did not change, this would have resulted in a tax decrease of $763.53. In reality, most properties increased in taxable value due to a city-wide revaluation to bring the assessed value in line with the fair market value of properties. The rate at which properties increased in value varied greatly even within individual neighborhoods. This makes comparing one year to another on a city-wide basis almost impossible.

Mayor Mike Wellner explained that the large increases in assessments were a product of the long span of time between citywide revaluations.

The drop in actual tax dollars for many residents was driven largely by a $648,566 drop in the city’s portion of the school district tax levy. This drop was due to the district paying off a significant part of its long-term debt last spring.