Intel Seeks Recovery Of Property Taxes

The Intel Corp. wants Washington County to return $612,000 in tax fees assessed after the giant computer chip maker missed an August deadline.

The dispute stems from the 1993 tax-break law designed to lure high technology factories to Oregon. Called the Strategic Investment Plan, it allowed counties to cap a factory’s assessed value at $100 million, saving its owners tens of millions of dollars in property taxes.

Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., employs 9,500 people at four Washington County sites.

Washington County commissioners agreed to give the tax break to Intel for a new plant and expansion of an existing plant. Intel saved $2.84 million in taxes under the cap, which requires the company to return 25 percent of the savings to the county as a “community service fee.”

But Intel claims in an appeal filed with the state that buildings and equipment valued at $188.6 million at its suburban Hillsboro campus were not ready July 1 and should not have been placed on the tax rolls.

The county does not dispute the assessed value of Intel’s plant. It contends that missing a filing deadline by three weeks means Intel is not entitled to pay a lower amount.