City property taxes plummet: Aldermen reduce tax rate 34 cents
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The cut will lower the property tax rate within the city of McMinnville from $1.94 per $100 of assessed value to $1.60. Had the sales tax referendum failed, the property tax would have increased to $2.05 if aldermen approved such a measure on second reading.
The local option sales tax referendum, which increased McMinnville’s sales tax from 2 percent to 2.75 percent, passed overwhelmingly Thursday with 84 percent of the vote. The total sales tax for items purchased in McMinnville is now 9.75 percent.
City officials said they were prepared to pass a budget regardless of the outcome of Thursday’s referendum. The only question was whether it would be financed by a property tax increase or the increase in local option sales tax.
“We appreciate the trust the voters have put in us,” McMinnville Mayor Royce Davenport said in passing the promised tax cut. “If it wasn’t for the voters, this would not have been possible.”
The increase in sales tax is expected to raise between $900,000 and $1.1 million a year. The city’s portion of that may be reduced somewhat if the entire county approves a similar referendum question this February.
During the Friday meeting, members of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen agreed it had been many decades since there had been a property tax decrease, with no one recalling a cut as dramatic as 34 cents.
“As far as I can remember, nothing like this has ever happened,” said Alderman Donald Hillis. “We’re excited and we’re glad we could do this for the people of McMinnville.”
Taxes cut
McMinnville property owners saw a tax swing of 45 cents in less than 24 hours on Friday:
• Had the sales tax referendum failed, the property tax rate would have been raised to $2.05
• Since the sales tax referendum was successful, aldermen lowered the property tax rate to $1.60