The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Property owners to see new Notice of Valuation in May
No one wants to see a tax bill, but they’re coming. The 2010 property tax bills should be making their way to your mailbox soon and it probably won’t be smaller than last year’s bill. That’s because the property taxes are still being calculated using valuation data gathered between 2006 and 2008, when property prices were at their peak.
With 2010 squarely in the rearview mirror, another valuation cycle is under way and a new analysis of county property values could have a big impact on the amount some property owners pay in local taxes starting a year from now. For some, it could provide a much-needed respite from paying taxes on property values posted at the peak of the market. Others won’t see much of a change at all.
County assessor Kristy McFarland says while her office doesn’t have all of its final figures for county property values yet, she has noticed values dropping in some areas of the county, but not everywhere.
“We are seeing a decline in values in many—but not all—areas of the county. The most stable values are in rural Gunnison County,” McFarland says. “The biggest declines are in the residential properties in the upper East River Valley,” i.e., Jack’s Cabin north.
But a decline in your property’s value doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a corresponding drop in your property
taxes.
It’s just a way of helping county staff determine the mil levy that will be required to meet funding needs. The Board of County Commissioners sets a final mil amount after determining budget needs. Last December they set the mil levy at 10.24, which was slightly higher than it was in 2009.
“We certainly consider the assessed valuation each year during budget development as it is a key component of the calculation for property tax,” county finance director Linda Nienheuser says.
For its part, the assessor’s office has been analyzing county property sales data for all of the areas from between 2008 and 2010 since June 30 of last year to have Notices of Valuation in the mail to property owners by May 1.
It’s a time crunch when county appraisers are trying to look at every sale to make sure each was a valid transaction and visit each property to make sure it matches the property as it appears on paper. And the information on sales by month hasn’t been compiled yet.
The Notice of Valuation helps property owners determine how much they will pay in property tax, since the value is used in calculating the amount of tax that is assessed on the property by the various taxing districts.
Mil levies are set at the end of the year just before the budgeting process draws to a close. If the overall value of property in the county shrinks, the mil levies of each district will have to grow in order to maintain the same level of funding.
To get from a property value to a tax, county officials and staff go through a process of valuation, assessment, setting the mil levy and calculating the tax.
Next week we’ll look at what the likely trend will be with this year’s Notices of Valuation at the north end of the Gunnison Valley and how that will impact tax bills and revenue.
