Some taxpayers have been overbilled

Sisters area resident Ed Johnson was perplexed when a little over a week ago he received his latest annual tax statement from Deschutes County. It was divided into two different statements. In the 19 years that he has owned his property, he has always received only a single statement. Accompanying this year's tax bill was a letter of explanation that according to Johnson, "Made about as much sense as if it had been written in Greek."

Johnson examined the information provided by the Deschutes Country Assessor's Office and decided that something did not add up. He said, "The first clue is that the combination of the two tax bills is less than I paid last year; that coupled with the feeble explanation prompted me to call the tax people here."

Johnson called the assessor's office to try to find out exactly what was going on and was surprised with the open response he received.

"She (an employee at the assessor's office) immediately admitted that they had screwed up and had found it when they audited their system," Johnson said.

The Deschutes County Assessor's Office had been collecting for the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District on Johnson's total acreage, when it should have only been collecting on the first five acres. This resulted in an incorrect tax assessment and an overpayment by Johnson of taxes for each of the 19 years that he has owned the property.

Scott Langton, an appraiser for Deschutes County, explained the problem:

"If you're in a rural fire protection district and also if the Oregon Department of Forestry imposes a special assessment for their fire patrol surcharge, the charges for the rural fire protection district only apply to the improvements and the first five acres."

Langton said that in some cases the rural fire protection district charges had been applied to the entire acreage, not just the five acres.

During his telephone conversation, Johnson asked his contact at the assessor's office if this was only a problem that affected his property or if others were involved.

"She implied that the problems was pretty widespread, and she apologized for the mistake, and she promised me that it would not happen again," Johnson said.

Johnson decided an apology was not enough. He wanted to be reimbursed for all of the extra money that he has paid over the years, since the difference in the corrected tax bill for this year was around $200. Johnson felt that there is quite a bit that should be coming back to him after 19 years of overpayment.

Johnson was next transferred to another woman who would take care of the refund. He said he was told, "You are the first person who has called for a refund, so you will have to be bear with me as it takes me a long time to do this on my computer."

When finished, the woman told Johnson that he would receive his refund in four to five weeks. However, he would only receive a refund for the last five years, as there is a statute of limitations that only permits the county to refund the overpayment that occurred over the last five years. The balance of the overpayment became a windfall for Deschutes County.

After Johnson hung up the phone, he decided to call one of his neighbors who owns an even larger property and had also received a divided tax bill and letter of explanation. Johnson's neighbor did not understand the new tax statement and letter of explanation either. After Johnson explained the situation, the neighbor realized that for the 26 years he has owned his property he has also been being overcharged by a substantial amount. Johnson encouraged his neighbor to call and request a refund, even though it would only be for the last five years.

Langton explained, "We discovered the problem last year when an audit identified a property that was not being assessed correctly. When this came to light, we decided to check further to see if the problem was just here or more widespread. It turned out that it was more widespread, and they are going back and making the corrections now."

When asked if this was only a problem that affected the Sisters area, Langton responded, "It occurred more in the Sisters-Camp Sherman district, but it also occurred in other fire districts as well."

Langton was asked why this hadn't come to light sooner and he replied, "When I came on eight years ago, they conducted an audit every year, and I can't tell you why they haven't caught this before."

Langton asserted that the county believes that all properties that were subject to the overcharge have been identified and that everything will be remedied.

When asked if this would result in a reduction of the amount of money to be paid to the Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District, Langton replied, "They should not notice much difference. The amount of taxes assessed this year was more than last year and more than covered the amount of refunds that will be made."