Columbia River PUD pays $387,573 in property taxes

By Erica Ryberg

The South County Spotlight, Nov 25, 2009

When the Columbia River People’s Utility District battled its way into existence 25 years ago, it had to contend with allegations that as a special district, it wouldn’t pull its share.

“People often equate us with other government entities that don’t pay taxes,” said Libby Calnon, PUD spokeswoman.

But Calnon said the PUD is actually one of the county’s top 10 taxpayers.

This month, the PUD paid $387,573 to Columbia and Multnomah counties to cover its 2009 tax bill. The amount is based on $30.1 million, the assessed value of the PUD’s properties which include its headquarters in Deer Island.

Property taxes help to fund schools, fire districts, emergency response and other city and county services. The allocation for schools represents a 10.9 percent increase over the 2008 payment. The fire district allocation is 11.8 percent higher than last year. These changes are due to additional levies that voters passed.

Of the total, $382,029 went to Columbia County and $5,544 went to Multnomah County. The PUD serves 375 customers in northern Multnomah County, including marina customers on the east side of Highway 30 and residents on Watson, Gilkison and northwest St. Helens roads on the west side of the highway.

Columbia River PUD provides electric service to 18,560 customers in Columbia and Multnomah counties. The PUD employs 48 people and had $28.7 million in gross revenues last year.

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