ORS 308.232 states: All real or personal property within each county not exempt from ad valorem property taxation or subject to special assessment shall be valued at 100 percent of its real market value.

The Assessor’s Office employs two primary ways of determining real market value:

1. Physical inspection of the property; this usually is initiated in a variety of ways:

• A permit is pulled on the properties at the city jurisdiction or at the county
• Inventory Review: where a reappraisal occurs on all properties in a general area
• Farm or Forest qualifications or disqualifications
• The jurisdictional planning department, hearings officer, LUBA determines permissibility of what can occur on a property
• Any other factor in which it is determined that the best way to accurately appraise a property is to conduct a physical inspection

2. Ratio Study

• The ratio study analyzes all sales that have occurred in the county over the last year. Usually this study has a duration from March to March allowing our data to straddle the January 1st assessment date to see how the market is performing prior to and after this date.

The ratio study compares a properties previous year’s real market value to the sales price.

For Example:

For tax year 2013, we have a property valued at $100,000. The property then sells for $105,000 in January of 2014. The resulting ratio on that property is 105%.

In addition to evaluating individual properties, the ratio study combines all like properties in a given area.

For Example:

In a particular subdivision, there are 8 sales that occur over the last year, the ratios were:

82, 88, 92, 95, 99, 101, 102, 105. The resulting median ratio for that area is 97.

This indicates that collectively, the RMV of the properties in that area have increased 3% from the previous tax year.

We analyze all sales that occur in Jackson County. The main criteria is if the sale was an arms-length transaction involving an informed buyer and an informed seller. From 2009 to about 2013, a significant percentage of sales included in the ratio study were bank influenced in some way.

Changed Property Ratio (CPR)

The changed property ratio is the method in determining how new improvements to a property are assessed. The changed property ratio is determined by dividing all unchanged properties maximum assessed value by their real market value. This ratio is broken down into the property class a property is classified, such as Residential, Commercial and Industrial.

For Example:

In 2013, a property has a new home built on it. The estimated real market value of this improvement is $100,000. The CPR for 2013 is .927. The maximum assessed value established on this new improvement is $92,700.