Eric Chancellor, speaking for county assessors and tax collectors, briefed the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue April 23 about the County Assessment Function Funding Assistance account (CAPA), which provides partial funding for counties' property assessment and taxation (A&T) offices.

Chancellor said CAPA was established in 1989 via House Bill 2338 to augment county general funds through two primary revenue streams: a dedicated portion of document recording fees and retention of delinquent interest revenues. He told the committee the statutory formula has been amended only twice since then (1997 and 1999) and has not been indexed for growth, producing a widening gap between CAPA deposits and county A&T costs.

"If we squish the chart down and just looked at the trend relative to the need, it's been flat as compared to actual need, which grows with inflation," Chancellor said, adding CAPA covered roughly 36% of statewide A&T need in 2003 and about 12% today. He listed consequences including reductions in uniformity and accuracy, fewer reappraisals, fewer defenses of valuation appeals and "tens, maybe over a hundred million dollars" in unreturned property tax revenue over time unless the funding is adjusted.

Chancellor described a House bill (House Bill 3518, as referenced in testimony) that would increase and stabilize CAPA revenue by: raising the document recording fee portion from $9 to $18 (to be indexed to inflation with periodic step increases), returning delinquent interest revenue (about $13–14 million currently) to taxing districts while replacing the CAPA share with a 0.3% retention of property tax distributions (excluding bonds), and adding $10 million per biennium in state general funds. As presented, the package would move CAPA's share of A&T needs toward roughly 25–30% statewide, a level Chancellor said approximates 2007 funding adjusted for modern operations.

Chancellor gave a short fiscal breakdown: returning delinquent interest to districts in the last year would have been about $14,000,000 and the proposal's net impact statewide was described as roughly $12,000,000 in additional revenue flowing to taxing districts (about $6,000,000 to K‑12, $1,700,000 to cities, $2,600,000 to counties, $1,200,000 to special districts and $330,000 to community colleges, as presented). He said a conservative return on investment could be three to four times the incremental funding by recovering missed or underappraised property and noted larger counties already estimate tens of millions of recoverable value (Clackamas ~$12,000,000; Multnomah $5–10 million; Lane ~$12,000,000; Hood River ~$5 million), yielding a statewide projection that could exceed $100,000,000 in recoverable revenue based on current conditions and possibly far higher over 6–8 years.

Chair Mark Meek told the committee the bill's fiscal provisions will move to Ways and Means; the Senate committee received the briefing to inform members even though the bill will not be finalized in the Finance and Revenue Committee. No committee vote was taken; the presentation was informational.

Why it matters: County assessors said current CAPA revenues are flat while costs and statutory responsibilities have grown, affecting reappraisal schedules, the ability to defend appeals, and ultimately taxing districts' revenue. The House proposal described by county representatives would shift fee structures and add general fund dollars to try to stabilize A&T funding statewide.

Next steps: Presentation only; sponsor and county representatives expect the bill to proceed through the House and Ways and Means for fiscal consideration.