Measure 50 is a constitutional measure approved by Oregon voters on May 20, 1997. The measure, in addition to replacing Measure 47, repealed nearly every other provision in the Constitution dealing with property taxes. It did retain, with some significant changes, the provisions of Measure 5 passed by Oregon Voters in 1990.
Measure 50 converted Oregon's property tax system from a levy based system to a combination rate and levy based system. Taxing districts no longer have a "tax base" for operating purposes that grows automatically by six percent a year. Instead, each district has a frozen, permanent tax rate for operating purposes, but may also obtain revenue from the passage of bonded debt and "local option" levies. Revenues from the permanent rate may increase or decrease along with the assessed values in a district. Revenues from local option levies are subject to the limitations imposed by Measure 5. Revenues from bonded debt levies (such as new school construction) are not subject to limitation but must be approved by the voters in the district.
Measure 50 limits the assessed value. For each property tax account, the value was "cut" in 1997-98 to the assessed value that the account had in 1995-96 less ten percent. It then "capped" the value in 1998-99 and subsequent years to 1.03 percent of the prior year's assessed value. The assessed value can exceed these limits in certain situations, such as when major construction occurs or when a property is disqualified from special assessment or exemption programs. The value of these "exceptions" are assessed at the same ratio of assessed value to market value as existing property thus giving the new property the same relative tax break. This ratio is referred to as the "changed property ratio." In addition to establishing the new maximum assessed values, real market values and any specially assessed values were retained.
How Your Property Value Is Determined: Measure 50 creates a new value for each property, the "maximum assessed value." Thus, each property has a Real Market Value (RMV) and a Maximum Assessed Value (MAV), the lowest of which is the Assessed Value (AV). For properties that are specially assessed in farm or forest deferral programs or are partially exempt (enterprise zone, etc.), there is a third set of values reflecting the special assessment or exemption, but the AV is still the lowest of the three values.
Properties fall into one of these four categories:
1. No Change Properties. These are accounts that have had no assessment activity since 1995-96 other than RMV trending or ownership changes. There has been no new construction, no land size changes, no changes of any kind that trigger an exception to Measure 50. In these cases, the assessed value will usually be the 1995-96 RMV less 10%, increased by 3% per year after 1997. See Example 1.
2. Changed Properties (Exceptions). These are accounts that have had some assessment activity since 1995-96 that allows for an adjustment in the MAV. Examples of Exceptions are new construction or disqualification from special assessment. The MAV can be increased above the "cut and cap" limits. The AV in these cases will be the current MAV of the account plus the MAV of the Exception. The MAV Exception amount is determined by multiplying the current RMV of the Exception by the "changed property ratio" (CPR) described above. See Example 2.
3. RMV Change Only Properties. These are accounts that have had some assessment activity since 1995-96. However, the activity does not allow for an adjustment to MAV. The RMV changes but the MAV does not. These changes would include reappraisal, reductions due to an appeal, a reduction due to the removal of a structure and "minor" construction with an RMV of $10,000 or less. The change could result in RMV being increased or decreased. In cases where the RMV is reduced to less than MAV, the RMV becomes the AV because Measure 50 requires the AV to be the lower of RMV or MAV.
4. MAV Balance Change Properties. These are accounts that have had some assessment activity since 1995-96 that allows for an adjustment in the MAV, however, the total MAV of the accounts must be the same before and after the account changes are processed. Examples of this would be a lot line adjustment where no new tax lot is being created, or a manufactured structure that has been assessed as personal property is "converted" to a real property assessment basis. See Example 4.
How Your Tax Bill Is Calculated: For most properties, the tax calculation is fairly simple. The AV is multiplied times the tax rates for each of the districts that levy a tax in your area. These tax rates are calculated after each district's levy is reduced according to Measure 50. However, Measure 50 retained the tax rate limits imposed under Measure 5. Measure 5 was passed in 1990 and rate limits complicate tax calculations because Measure 50 taxes are calculated using AV and the Measure 5 limits are calculated using RMV. When reading this, remember that most bonded debt levies are exempt from Measure 5 and Measure 50 so are not involved in the calculations described in the next paragraph.
Measure 5 tax rate limits: The limits are $5 per $1000 of RMV for Education districts and $10 per $1,000 of RMV for General Government districts. For each of the Measure 5 categories (Education and General Government) two calculations are required: the Measure 50 category tax rate times the AV and the Measure 5 category tax rate times the RMV. Whichever amount is lower is the amount to use. After making the determination by category, the adjusted tax rate is multiplied times the AV.
After the Measure 5 limits have been calculated, the Education taxes, the General Government taxes, the bonded debt taxes (if any) and any special assessments are all added together to determine the total property tax amount.