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Board approves application to seek tax exemption for county fiber link; chair authorized to sign
Summary
The commissioners authorized staff to proceed with an application seeking real and personal property tax exemption for county-leased fiber optic infrastructure installed between the courthouse and county facilities and authorized the chair to sign the application form.
Columbia County commissioners on Feb. 19 approved moving forward with an application for a real and personal property tax exemption for fiber optic cable leased to the county and authorized the chair to sign the application.
Patrick (County Counsel) told the board the county arranged for fiber optic cable between the courthouse and a county facility referred to in the packet as John Gump, and onward to the sheriff's office, emergency management and public works. "That fiber optic is subject to personal property taxes in Oregon and under our agreement with the provider which is FATB, we're responsible for paying those taxes," Patrick said. He said Oregon offers a program allowing property under lease to government to be exempted from personal and real property taxes and the county seeks to use that program.
Staff told commissioners they were still working with the assessor on the correct property description because the fiber is not at a single address. They asked the board to authorize submitting the exemption application and to authorize the chair to sign. The motion passed on a voice vote and staff said they will finalize the property description with the assessor and proceed with the application.
The briefing did not include an estimate of the tax amount because the fiber had not yet been assessed, and staff said they would provide numbers as they become available.
