Piper Sandler adviser: local option levy ‘unpredictable, difficult to explain and inequitable’ but may be Astoria SD 1’s only option

Lauren McMillan of Piper Sandler told the Astoria SD 1 board that a local option levy is one of the few tools districts have to raise operating dollars outside the state school fund, but she warned it is ‘‘a really complicated topic’’ and that the revenue is ‘‘unpredictable, difficult to explain, and inequitable.’’

McMillan explained Oregon’s two-part property‑tax regime, pointing to Measure 5 (1990) and Measure 50 (1997) as the origins of the state’s compression rules. She described how local options are applied against the gap between assessed value and real market value on each parcel, and noted the practical need to levy by rate per $1,000 rather than a fixed dollar amount because of how compression affects collections.

Why it matters: Board members are facing budget pressures and potential program cuts; a local option could…