Oregon’s property tax system is confusing, to put it mildly. This year, more Central Oregonians are likely to feel the impact of that confusion than ever before.

The bottom line is this: If your property value fell so much in the last few years that it was lower than something called its maximum assessed value, you may be in for a painful surprise when property tax bills arrive — if you haven’t experienced that twinge already.

Your bill may have gone up by as much as 14 percent over last year.

The good news is that your house may be now worth more than it was 12 months ago. The bad news — a higher bill — is staring you in the face. You may, of course, appeal.

Meanwhile, Deschutes County Assessor Scot Langton knows that the system is confusing and that people are likely to be shocked when higher bills arrive. He knows that few understood why those bills did not fall dramatically during the recent recession. He also knows that any explanation of the system is neither quick nor simple.

His office has put together a video, which can be found at www.deschutes.org/graphit, which gives a reasonably lucid explanation of what is a far from simple situation. The site also gives property owners the ability to see charts for their own property, as well as similar ones in the video.

Finally, Langton and his staff have a series of property tax open houses planned across the county in the next couple of weeks.

The first is slated at City Council chambers in Sisters on Oct. 28. The next night, a similar meeting will be held in La Pine at the Justice Court. A session in Redmond is scheduled to be held at the fire hall on Nov. 6, and the final open house will be at the Deschutes Service Center in Bend on Nov. 13. All meetings will run from 5 to 7 p.m.

Understanding what happened won’t lower your bill, of course, but it might just lower your blood pressure.