New law brings homeowner tax relief for 2020 wildfire survivors in Santiam Canyon

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — New legislation has recently been passed that makes property taxes for 2020 wildfire survivors in Santiam Canyon more manageable.

Senate Bill 1545 allows wildfire-affected residents to reset their property tax level to the way it was before the fires damaged their homes.

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KOIN 6 News spoke to Marion County Commissioner Kevin Cameron about the issue. He said the bill will prevent some costly tax increases for these homeowners.

“When they came back and rebuilt their house, the way our property taxes work in Oregon, you rebuild the same square-footage house, it’s today’s price. So your property taxes, some of them, went up two times, three times,” Cameron said. “It’s one more tool in the toolbox to help people who lived there before come back and rebuild.”

Individual counties will need to opt into the tax reset program, with applications most likely becoming available as soon as this summer.

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