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5/28/2024
Coos County, OR. – Official Release: Coos County taxpayers will see their property tax bills go down by a total of about 45 cents per thousand as a result of a couple of tax levies coming off the rolls.
In June 2023, the county completed payments on the natural gas pipeline construction costs, removing an average of 25 cents per thousand. In 2024, the bonded debt fund has been closed. Fiscal Year 2025 will be the last year of the five-year Radio Communications Local Option Levy of 20 cents per thousand. That will save taxpayers 45 cents per thousand, leaving a core rate of $1.08 per thousand. That’s a third less than the average Oregon citizens puts forward for county services. This is the third lowest base rate in the state.
County officials have cut over the years to make ends meet. At one time there were more than 500 county employees. Today that number is closer to 350. The largest department in the General Fund Budget – the section funded with property taxes, timber receipts, a donation from Bandon Dunes, fees for services and some other revenue sources – by far is the Sheriff’s Office.
As a result, it’s also the most expensive. The county collects $6 million in property taxes in a year to fund services – it costs about $8 million to operate the jail.
Efforts to increase deputy hiring and bring the jail up to capacity are funded primarily right now with one-time American Recovery dollars that the county will not have in the fiscal year that starts on July 1. Those funds have been used the last couple of years to fill budget gaps so as not to reduce services.
Coos County has operated like a business for some time now, in order to keep the organization financially solvent and pay off large debts that had been taken on in the past. Today, many departments in the General Fund sustain themselves without using property tax dollars.
Others have been cut so deeply that they are operating on shoe-string budgets. Many mandatory departments have fewer than five staff members.
Other programs are funded with dollars from state and federal government, or other sources, and those payments are required legally to be used for the specified programs. This leaves little wiggle room for moving dollars from one priority to another. Balancing the public’s need for vital services – such as public safety, roads, secure elections, records and title recording, assessment and more – has to be in line with available resources.
The State of Oregon and each county are required to operate with a balanced budget.
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