Creswell School District and Lane County Assessment & Taxation are working together to correct an omission in the 2024–2025 property taxes related to outstanding bonds for the school district for property owners who live within the District’s boundaries. Specifically, the amount of taxes budgeted by the District to repay the principal and interest on the District’s voter-approved bonds was inadvertently not included on the OR-ED-50 submitted to the County by the District, therefore left off of the tax bill that property owners have received. 

Each property owner will receive two letters from Lane County Assessment & Taxation over the next month. The first letter, a Notice of Intention to Correct the Property Tax Roll, will inform property owners of the omission. The second letter, called a Notice of Correction, will be sent 20 days later, confirm the amount of the additional property tax for each property owner, and provide appeal information. Although the payments due are attributable to this tax year, payments will not be required to be paid until November 17, 2025. However, because taxes will also be due at that time on that year’s principal and interest, taxpayers may wish to prepay the amount this year in order to avoid the cumulative amount of tax next year. Taxpayers can pre-pay the amount any time before the November due date and receive the 3% discount. Information on how to pre-pay this amount will be contained in the mailed letter.

“We know the District’s two bond measures were widely supported by the Creswell community in 2007 and 2023 and will continue to provide much-needed funding for school improvements,” said Lane County Assessor Mary Vuksich-Shafer. “Taxation is a complex process with a lot of steps and detailed legal requirements. The Creswell School District is working diligently with us to ensure the correction is made as quickly as possible.” 

“I want to apologize to the community for the confusion this has created, but rest assured we will work closely with the tax assessor’s office to ensure an error of this kind does not happen again,” said Creswell Superintendent Mike Johnson. “We value the trust the community has placed in us time and again with support for the district’s capital needs. This will not impact our ability to complete projects on time and we are excited to continue to invest in our students.”

Why is the correction necessary?

The bonds were passed by Creswell School District voters in 2007 (refinanced in 2013) and 2023. The Fiscal Year 2025 principal and interest payments for the bonds were budgeted by Creswell School District but inadvertently not included on the notice of certification of taxes filed under ORS 310.060 which informs content included in the 2024-25 tax statements. 

Will property owners pay double in 2025? 

Property owners can choose to make this 2024-25 payment in this tax year, or in the next tax year with the 2025-26 year’s property tax associated with bond principal and interest.  Property owners can pre-pay the 2024-25 tax for Creswell School District bonds any time before November 17, 2025, including during this tax year, and receive the 3% discount. Next year’s 2025-26 tax statement will include this 2024-25 bond amount as a special assessment and also reflect any prepayments made. 

For more information about the bonds & FAQ’s go here: https://creswell.k12.or.us/about-csd/bond-information/