“Lake Oswego taxes are 10 times higher”
The “10x higher” claim is misleading—it pits a single line item against Lake Oswego's entire tax bill.
Screenshot via NextdoorTranscript of the screenshot—a Nextdoor reply from Doug M. (Author), Rosewood/Rivergrove:
Hi Manuel, that is being touted around as something that should be done before we vote on a tax levy. Unfortunately it really makes no sense because an audit won't produce anyway to cover our expenses this year. As a matter of fact, the auditor has even stated that they will not give any advice on how the city is spending is funds. They will only verify that everything balances and that the funds are being spent out of the appropriate accounts on the items that they're being used to pay for.
Keep in mind that the city has revenues of about $47,000. The audit is going to cost an estimated $19,000.
The other part that is killing the city is the same people who solicited the signatures for an audit, are the ones that live by the river next to the boat ramp, and are now suing the city to stop it from doing improvements to the boat ramp. For the city to defend itself and to continue on with the improvements, it has to go to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, and the estimated attorney costs will be approximately $20,000. Those two expenses alone, we'll leave the city with no funds to operate on for a year which of course is not feasible. That's why you keep hearing about the city failing and Lake Oswego having to Annex all of it. There really are no choices to go back into Clackamas County which is where we were at before the city formed. The reason for that, is because Metro has required that the City of Rivergrove together with the City of Lake Oswego create an intergovernmental agreement for sewers. That is what makes it so easy for Rivergrove to be moved right into Lake Oswego.
(Highlighted in the screenshot:) We are proposing a tax levy of 50 cents per $100,000 of assessed value (not market value). Conversely, if that does not pass, then we are most likely looking at approximately $5 per $100,000 of assessed value in taxes from Lake Oswego, which is 10 times higher. Additionally, residents who are not already on sewer but still have their septic tanks, will need to pay to have to switch on to sewer. Can you see why we should not wait for an audit first?
The 10x figure didn't travel alone. It was half of a threat: fund the levy, or Rivergrove gets annexed by Lake Oswego and your bill jumps roughly tenfold. The annexation half collapses on its own—that's its own post. But even if you grant it, the number is wrong, and not by a little.
The comparison is apples to oranges
The 10x figure compares the proposed Rivergrove levy alone ($0.50 per $1,000 of assessed value) against Lake Oswego's full city tax rate. That's not a defensible comparison—it leaves out everything Rivergrove residents already pay. It's like holding up the single apple you added to your cart against your neighbor's whole month of groceries and declaring yourself the fiscally responsible one. You're not comparing carts; you're comparing one item on your side to the entire bill on theirs.
We already pay a full property-tax bill—most of the same line items Lake Oswego does. The levy would have been one more line on it. To compare apples to apples, you measure total property tax burden on both sides.
The actual numbers
Measured that way—total tax burden, per $1,000 of assessed value—here is what the county's own records show. (Oregon rates are conventionally quoted per $1,000; the original screenshot stated its 50-cent levy and ~$5 Lake Oswego figure per $100,000.) From the Clackamas County Assessor's Summary of Assessments and Levies (Table 6a, consolidated billing rates, tax year 2025-26, filed under ORS 309.330; archived copy):
| Jurisdiction (tax code area) | Consolidated rate (per $1,000) |
|---|---|
| Rivergrove (Clackamas, TCA 007-044) | $16.90 |
| Lake Oswego (TCA 007-002) | $19.16 |
| Lake Oswego (TCA 007-057) | $19.20 |
| Lake Oswego (average of the two) | $19.18 |
| Difference | $2.28 |
| Ratio | 1.13x |
Rivergrove's figure is its Clackamas County portion (TCA 007-044), which covers roughly 94% of the city's assessed value. That puts Lake Oswego at about 1.13x Rivergrove's rate—not 10x. On a $500,000 home, the gap is roughly $1,140 a year: real money, but a different universe from the figures circulating during the campaign.
Two underlying errors
The 10x figure also relied on two specific factual errors in the underlying numbers:
- The Lake Oswego "city portion" used in the campaign math was listed at $5.18 per $1,000. The actual figure on current tax bills is $4.84.
- The Rivergrove "comparison" figure used in some campaign communications was $2.35, which is actually the rate for Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue alone—one of about ten line items on a Rivergrove tax bill, accounting for roughly 14% of the total tax burden. Presenting it as the total Rivergrove comparison figure understated what residents already pay.
The comparison was inflated, the underlying numbers were wrong, and the annexation premise it relied on isn't supported by the record. I brought up numerous objections in council meetings, but the Mayor's agenda took precedence over the facts and numbers, so the levy moved forward regardless.
And step back: it was never “the levy or Lake Oswego's taxes.” Failing the levy didn't move anyone—it kept Rivergrove exactly where it was. The real choice was the levy they were pushing, or nothing changing at all. “10x” was a price tag bolted onto a future that wasn't coming—a scare, not a forecast.