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Josephine council adopts proposed property tax rate of 0.468097 per $100 for FY 2025-26
Summary
The City of Josephine adopted an ordinance setting the proposed property tax rate for fiscal year 2025–26 at 0.468097 per $100 valuation during an Aug. 20 public hearing; council members recorded a roll-call vote and the item includes wording counsel said indicates the rate is unchanged.
The City of Josephine City Council voted Aug. 20 to adopt an ordinance setting the proposed property tax rate for fiscal year 2025–26 at 0.468097 per $100 of taxable value.
The measure was adopted after a brief public hearing and a council roll-call vote. A motion to adopt the ordinance was made and seconded; recorded votes included Doug Newman (aye), Allen Soscoloon (aye), Dr. Pam Sardo (yes) and Gary Chappell (recorded verbally at roll call). The ordinance passed; one councilmember (Brad) was noted as not present and the city attorney was present and did not vote.
City Attorney: why this matters
The ordinance language specifies the rate, levies taxes to provide revenue for current expenses, and establishes an interest-and-sinking fund for outstanding city debt for the period beginning Oct. 1, 2025, and ending Sept. 30, 2026. During the hearing the council recited several figures presented with the proposed rate — including a statement that the new rate would yield a 12.77% increase in tax revenue and conflicting phrases that the rate would be “effectively raised by 3.1 or 3.61%.” The city attorney told the council the wording as printed is confusing but said “this basically means we have the same tax rate as we currently do. The tax rate is not going up.”
Council action and next steps
Council opened the public hearing at 7:02 p.m., received no public comments during the hearing, and closed it at 7:03 p.m. The ordinance was then read into the record and put to a roll-call vote. The clerk recorded the motion as passed. The ordinance text adopted by council levies taxes on all property within the city corporate limits and provides for collection of annual taxes in accordance with state law. The council did not state an effective date for the ordinance beyond the fiscal-year language in the ordinance itself.
Clarifications from the record
The meeting record includes multiple, inconsistent numerical statements about the revenue and rate change; the city attorney’s on-the-record comment that the wording indicates the rate is unchanged is the only clear legal clarification recorded during the hearing. A garbled phrase in the public-hearing presentation about the effect on a $100,000 home was not clearly stated and is recorded in the transcript as unclear.
What to expect next
Because the ordinance sets the proposed tax rate for the coming fiscal year and establishes the interest-and-sinking fund, it will appear in the city’s fiscal-year budget process and be included in materials for public information and tax-collection procedures. The city did not record any other formal directions or amendments to the ordinance during the meeting.
