CrowdStrike, PacifiCorp lead list of Deschutes County’s biggest taxpayers

Published 2:30 pm Thursday, October 8, 2026

A handful of large businesses account for millions of dollars in property tax payments in Deschutes County, with PacifiCorp and CrowdStrike topping the list of the county’s largest taxpayers for the 2025-26 tax year.

But the significance of those companies extends beyond their tax bills. Large businesses can diversify the tax base, create jobs, support other businesses and strengthen the local economy, local economic development officials say.

PacifiCorp, the electric utility that provides power for much of Central Oregon, had the largest tax bill among county taxpayers, paying about $3.3 million, according to county tax records. Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike ranked second, at about $2.72 million, followed by pharmaceutical manufacturer Lonza Bend at about $1.75 million.

The county’s top 10 taxpayers collectively paid roughly $16 million in property taxes.

The list is based on taxable assessed value, which is used to calculate property taxes and can differ substantially from a property’s current market value. PacifiCorp had a taxable assessed value of about $201.2 million, while CrowdStrike’s was about $164.8 million and Lonza’s about $106.7 million.

Jon Stark, chief executive officer of Economic Development for Central Oregon, said large taxpayers are an important part of a diversified economy because their investments in property and facilities add to the local tax base.

The impact extends beyond taxes, he said. Companies that build or expand facilities create work for contractors and suppliers, while employees spend their income locally and businesses purchase goods and services from other companies.

“That activity can support additional jobs and business investment beyond the company’s own workforce,” Stark said.

The importance of commercial and industrial property is particularly apparent in Bend, where about 75% of private property tax revenue comes from residential property and roughly 25% from commercial and industrial property, said Katy Brooks, Bend’s economic development officer.

Brooks said a healthier balance would be closer to 50-50 and is working to lure more large companies to increase the local tax base.

“The more businesses we have, the better the balance of how we pay for what we need to keep our city running,” she said.

Other major county taxpayers included TDS Baja Broadband, which paid about $1.67 million; Cascade Natural Gas, about $1.57 million; Deschutes Brewery, about $1.08 million; Touchmark at Mount Bachelor Village, about $1.05 million; Gas Transmission Northwest, about $919,000; CVSC LLC, about $896,000; and Suterra, about $857,000.