Opinion ID: 1209289
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Application of ORS 308.395 and 308.399

Text: The third and final issue is whether the rollback provisions of ORS 308.395 or 308.399 (1979) applied to plaintiff's property when plaintiff no longer used the property as a farm on January 1, 1981. The tax court determined that plaintiff should be assessed additional back taxes under ORS 308.399 because the land was disqualified from its former special farm use assessment. Plaintiff's land had received a special assessment as unzoned farmland under ORS 308.370(2) from 1971 to 1980. In 1980, Marion County enacted a zoning ordinance effective June 18, 1980, that changed the zone where plaintiff's land was located from unzoned to zoned farmland. Plaintiff argues that the change to zoned farmland triggered ORS 308.395(5) (in effect in 1980 and January 1, 1981), which plaintiff claims would forestall the assessment of additional taxes. Former subsection (5) provided: Whenever a farm use zone is established as described in subsection (1) of ORS 308.370, and land which is receiving special assessment as farm use land under subsection (2) of ORS 308.370 thereby is included in such zone, and such land is being used exclusively for farm use, the county assessor and tax collector shall cancel any potential additional taxes to be collected under this section. (Emphasis added.) However, regardless of whether the property is unzoned or zoned farmland, it still must be used exclusively as a farm to forestall the assessment of additional taxes under ORS 308.395 or 308.399. Former subsection (5) of ORS 308.395 applied only to land used exclusively for farm use. On January 1, 1981, plaintiff did not use the property as a farm. The rollback provisions of ORS 308.399 apply to property zoned as farmland, ORS 308.370(1), which is no longer used as farmland. Plaintiff's property, as of January 1, 1981, was zoned as farmland but not used as farmland, so ORS 308.399 applied. Therefore, the tax court properly concluded that the property was subject to the rollback provisions of ORS 308.399 and the assessor's action in adding additional tax to the land when it was no longer in farm use was correct. 9 OTR at 480. The Oregon Tax Court is affirmed.