Our motto at the Oregonian: "If it's news in Oregon, it's news to us."

What?

Cogen said he was confident most voters took time to study the measures and calculate how much each would cost them. And he noted that not every Multnomah County voter had to decide each of the three.

He must be on drugs!

I'm half expecting an article on Hales' residency problem now that the election is over.

Not being a resident of Portland, I didn't have a dog in the race (other than the Multnomah County Library measure). It should be comedy gold when the property tax bills arrive next year and the complaining starts. Just go ahead and say "charge it!", you won't have to pay for it until later. For most, it will be just like the MasterCard bill they get in the mail each month.

My property taxes will go up a whopping 10 percent. My income will not! If I have bear the burden of a 10 percent tax increase and no noticeable increase in income, then correspondingly to institute fairness and equity; Cogen, the over paid head of the library and school administrators ought to be required to take a 10 percent salary cut. The reality is all of these people will likely receive fat raises. That is why I voted no on all the tax measures. The wealthy get always seem to get wealthier on the backs of the under classes. .

al m -

Only the library issue involved every Mult Co voter.

The unconstitutional Arts Tax involved every Portland voter, a smaller group than every Mult Co voter.

The PPS bond issue involved only residents within the PPS boundaries, which is a smaller group than all of he City of Portland. here is an odd wrinkle for PPS voters in that a portion of Lake O, in Clackamas County, is par of PPS and voes in those elections, but is still too few to make he total numbers of possible PPS district voters equal he number of potential voters in the Arts tax election. There may be a part of Washington County in the area of Ashcreek / Hayhurst / Bridlemile neighborhoods in way outer residential Souh West which are also served by PPS schools and voe in PPS elections, bu I'm not 100% sure of thtat.

So Cogan is, on this rare occasion, correct in his statement.

Meanwhile, in Clackystan, there are NEW bigger better water issues.

Got a well for your H2O?

http://mobile.oregonlive.com/advorg/pm_32333/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=L0IPqAbL

Did I miss something?

While Portland and Multnomah County VOTERS may have passed this measure, only PROPERTY OWNERS will be paying it. Landlords may try (perhaps successfully) to increase rents to recover the additional cost... but once again we have a tax voted on by many who do not have to PAY IT.

Those founding fathers had the right idea when they only allowed property owners to vote.

Can we property owners ask to assess a tax on some OTHER group for a change?

Last paragraph says, "But I also believe that when two-thirds of voters say we need to make this investment...'

When a politician says, "INVESTMENT..." what he means is, "EXPENDITURE".

Landlords may try (perhaps successfully) to increase rents to recover the additional cost... but once again we have a tax voted on by many who do not have to PAY IT.

The renters will pay it, but not realize that they are paying it. And they're definitely to "thank" for passing it.

Now they say something. It's hard to type (while laughing so hard.)

Median home price in Portland $251,400 per Zillow
Changed property ratio in Multnomah County 69.31%
yields a median AV of $174,245
Library district is a net increase of $0.35 above the expiring levy, so $61/year
PPS bond is $1.10 for 1st 8 years, so $192/year
with 2 adults per household the art tax is $70, so the total tax increase on the average household is $323
this is pre-tax, since these taxes are deductibles on federal tax return, so I think the tax measures are a lot more affordable for the average homeowner than is being stated by the Oregonian.

The quote "If it's news in Oregon, it's news to us" was actually made by Tom McCall (before he was governor) when he worked at KEX Radio in the 50's.

BTW - The O is having a special pull-out section this Sunday on how the loss in Vietnam will affect Oregon.

Given the current historically low vacancy rate in rental unis - both apartments and single family houses - the landlords will have no difficulty in recouping the higher r.e. tax costs from residential tenants. For some tenants with residential leases here may be a lag in rent increases until the next lease kicks in, but the tenants will pay. Most will never connect the "greedy landlord and his rent increases" with the taxes for which they voted.

Mos commercial lessees have leases with "triple net" provisions, so they will start paying as soon as he landlord does,

Re. your comment "The editors over there must not realize how easy it is to see through them." You're suggesting that The Oregonian tried to hide the impact of the tax measures from readers until after the vote. That's an interesting claim given our repeated editorials in opposition to the library district and the arts tax (I am the editorial and commentary editor). Here are our two final editorials on the issues:

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/10/say_no_to_multnomah_county_lib.html

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/09/vote_no_on_portland_arts_tax.html

Erik,

I'm guessing 70% of your readership never opens the Editorial Page. Not on purpose.

The editorial page is the last place you should try and inform the readership on public policy analysis.

The obituaries probably attract more eyeballs than editorials on bond measures.

Erik:
Don't confuse this crowd with facts. At least once a month someone reinvents the "news to us" gag, which had a variation when Fred Meyer said that if the Second Coming occurred downtown, the paper would miss the story.
The anti-O bias here is as ingrained and original as Lars calling it the fishwrapper -- an insult that to my certain knowledge was in general use elsewhere in the country more than 60 years ago.
But each commentator feels clever, and thus better about him- or herself for a short time, and there is a happiness shortage. They hate if when someone like Frank brings out the actual numbers.
On the other hand, Jack knows a lot about several issues, including newspapers, and the editorial board should put this blog on their daily reading list. So should whoever is running metro coverage. The news here is often ahead of The O, and it was that way when the newsroom was a lot more crowded than it is now.

I think the larger impact will be seen in the effects of compression - much harder for people to grasp but the hit is coming to the City's general fund - and serious trade-offs will follow.

Anne Dufay,
What do you think will be on a list of serious trade-offs?

clinamen - anything funded by the general fund.

I'm sorry clinamen - I may have presumed too much. Do you want me to give an explanation as to what is financed by the general fund? I'm happy to do so - because I live with this stuff I sometimes forget that not everyone is up to their eyebrows in this on a daily basis... Props to you who are not! You're doubtless saner than those of us who are...

I live within the City of Portland, Mult Co., and the PPS boundaries. The annual property tax bill I just paid was $4858. My assessed value is $223K. What can I expect my property tax bill to be this time next year? I need to figure out how much f-ing $$ to put away each month between now and then. Is there an on-line property tax calculator out there so a homeowner can do projections for this kind of stuff, or should I sit on pins and needles for the next 11 months dreading the day that green statement comes in the mail? I never know exactly when the new taxes start, when old ones expire, or how they affect taxes which are paid at an odd time of the year. And what's with the "discount"? Seems more like a penalty to me: you pay more if you can only afford 1/3 instead of 100%. Nice "feel good" marketing spin by the County, isn't it? Wow, I just saved $$ by forking over $4858 all at once! Sure doesn't feel that way.

"About $3.8 million of the arts-tax money will go to almost four dozen arts groups each year. The rest of the $12.5 million in tax revenue will fund arts teachers in the city's elementary schools."

I thought I saw it stated (maybe on this blog) that the mix was more like 50/50 between the opera/etc and the schools. Which is it?

Roy wrote: I live within the City of Portland, Mult Co., and the PPS boundaries.

You sound as if you are willing to stay in the City. If you do, it's your choice to make. Just remember that you don't have to stay...