Welcome to the Tax & Finance Office

The Polk County Tax/Finance Office has the following responsibilities:

• Receipts and deposits all Polk County revenue.
• Allocates and remits property tax receipts to taxing districts.
• Makes tax refunds as directed by the Tax Office.
• Acts as custodian for trust funds as mandated by Oregon Statutes or Polk County ordinance.
• Reconciles all Polk County bank accounts.
• Invests County funds as directed by investment policy.
• Allocates interest to funds as mandated by Oregon Statutes or County ordinance.
• Provides internal auditing for all funds and divisions; makes adjusting and correcting entries as requested by department, payroll, or administrator.
• Gives assistance as required by budget officer during annual budget process.
• Supervises the accounts payable process, ensuring that expenditures are made accurately and timely; prints and distributes 1099s; enters interdepartmental vouchers.
• Maintains fixed asset records; calculates depreciation; assigns asset tags.
• Prints and distributes monthly accounting reports as requested by Polk County departments or divisions.
• Prepares County books for year-end audit; provides information and reports required by auditors; prepares financial statements; closes fiscal accounting records.

TAX COLLECTOR: Katlyn D'Agostini
CHIEF TAX CLERK: Tara Luker

The Polk County Tax Office is responsible for the collection and administration of property taxes after the Assessor’s Office has set values and calculated the tax. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapters 305 to 312, control and regulate all property tax functions. Property tax is defined as any tax, fee, charge, or assessment imposed by any government unit upon property or upon a property owner as a direct consequence of ownership of that property (ORS 310.140).

Tax Rate Calculations

Oregon’s property tax system completely changed when voters approved Ballot Measure 50 in May of 1997. This measure established new limitations on property value assessments, levies, and taxes. The legislature established a “Maximum Permanent Rate” that can be imposed by each taxing district for general purposes. Bonded debt or local option levies were not included in this limitation, so the new tax system gives us three types of levies:

Maximum Permanent Rate Levies:  The rate established for each taxing district in 1997 for operating purposes. Districts can levy less than the permanent rate, but not more.

Local Option Levies:  Voters within a district’s boundaries can approve additional levies for operating purposes or capital projects either as a set rate or a set dollar amount. These levies cannot last longer than 5 years for operating purposes or 10 years for capital projects. These levies must be approved by more than 50% of eligible voters (double majority) or at a November election in an even numbered year.

Bonded Debt Levies:  New bond levies must be approved by voters in the same manner as local option levies. The levy amounts are the funds needed to make the payments on capital construction bonds and are certified by the Assessor by the taxing district each year. Taxes are also limited by Measure 5 which was passed by voters in 1990. This measure limited the combined rate for education to $5.00 per $1,000 and the combined rate for general government to $10.00 per $1,000, applied against the Real Market Value of the property. If these limitations are exceeded, taxes for the districts in the category are reduced proportionately (compressed) to meet the rate limit. School districts in Polk County are affected by the Measure 5 limits and experience compression of their tax rates, but districts in the general government category have no or minimal tax compression. For more detailed information regarding tax rate calculations and the assessment of property values, please see information supplied by Polk County Assessor.