Preview:

IN THE OREGON TAX COURT MAGISTRATE DIVISION Property Tax GERALD L. GRAFF II, Plaintiff, v. MARION COUNTY ASSESSOR, Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

TC-MD 080487C

DECISION

Plaintiff seeks a partial property tax exemption on his homestead for tax years 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, and 2008-09, for his active military service in connection with the Operation Iraqi Freedom campaign. The matter is before the court on stipulated facts. Moreover, although Defendant felt compelled to deny Plaintiff's exemption application, Defendant's representative "sincere[ly] hope[s] that we can in some way assist him in obtaining the benefit of this exemption." (Def's Ltr at 2, Apr 23, 2008.) I. STATEMENT OF FACTS

Plaintiff is an Oregon resident and a member of the Oregon National Guard. He owns a home in Marion County identified in the assessor's records as Account R323061. Plaintiff has been deployed as a Title 10 active duty service member since June 28, 2004, under the Operation Iraqi Freedom campaign. Through a series of amended orders, Plaintiff has served, and will continue to serve, on active duty status through at least October 23, 2008, for a total of 716 consecutive days of service. Under his initial orders Plaintiff, on June 28, 2004, was ordered to Title 10 active duty commencing July 3, 2004, for a period not to exceed 545 days. Those orders required Plaintiff to report to Fort Bliss, Texas, where, after a period of "mobilization processing," Plaintiff was

DECISION TC-MD 080487C

1

deployed to the combat zone in Iraq as part of the country's military campaign in that region. While in Iraq, Plaintiff was injured. As a result, Plaintiff's orders were amended on November 18, 2005, requiring Plaintiff to return to the medical retention center in Tacoma, Washington, "for completion of medical care and treatment." Those orders indicate that Plaintiff was retained on active duty pursuant to Title 10, for a period of 179 days, with an end date of May 13, 2006. A subsequent amendment to Plaintiff's orders, dated March 31, 2006, extended Plaintiff's end date to November 9, 2006. On October 18, 2006, Plaintiff's orders were again amended, requiring Plaintiff to report to Sacramento, California, still on Title10 active duty service, for additional medical care and treatment. Additionally, Plaintiff's end date was extended to May 5, 2007. After a period of evaluation and treatment in California, Plaintiff was returned to Oregon to perform administrative services at the Woodburn Armory. By order dated April 3, 2007, and under the authority of Title 10 of the United States Code, Plaintiff's end date was extended to October 31, 2007. By order dated August 22, 2007, Plaintiff's end date was extended to April 27, 2008. Finally, by order dated March 14, 2008, Plaintiff's end date was extended to October 23, 2008, for a total of 716 consecutive days of Title 10 active duty service. On March 26, 2008, Plaintiff filed an Oregon Active Duty Military Service Member's Exemption Claim form with the assessor's office, seeking a partial exemption on his property taxes. By letter dated April 4, 2008, the assessor denied Plaintiff's claim for tax years 2005-06 through 2008-09, inclusive. On April 14, 2008, Plaintiff timely appealed Defendant's denial to this court. The issue presented is whether Plaintiff qualifies for the ORS 307.2861 homestead exemption and, more particularly, whether he meets the service date requirements of that statute. ///

1

Unless noted otherwise, all references to the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) are to the 2007 edition.

DECISION TC-MD 080487C

2

II. ANALYSIS ORS 307.286 provides for an exemption from property taxes of up to $60,000 of the assessed value of a homestead for individuals engaged in certain qualifying active duty military service. The statute at issue is of relatively recent vintage, initially passed by the legislature in 2005, and subsequently amended during the next legislative session in 2007 to rectify certain unintended consequences flowing from the initial legislation. See Or Laws 2005, ch 520,

Download 080487CGraffDEC.pdf

Oregon Law