More than 1,700 appeals come in for property valuations

Determinations will be sent out by August 15

By Katherine Nettles

The great real estate valuation notification of 2023 that has ruffled more than a few feathers in Gunnison County has concluded a major phase in the process: that of accepting appeals. The deadline for all appeals of property valuations was June 8, and Gunnison County assessor Kristy McFarland has tallied 1,710 appeals that came in for this cycle. 

The 2023 valuations, which went out in notices this spring to all owners of commercial, residential or vacant real estate within the county, were based on estimated real estate values for the period ending in June 2022. Colorado law requires county assessors to perform a revaluation of all properties within their county every two years, and the 2023 values were calculated based on market sales data from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2022, to be used for tax years 2023 and 2024. 

The 2020 through 2022 period was considered the height of the latest real estate market boom as COVID drove up demand and prices throughout the county and across the state, particularly the Western Slope. In some cases property valuations increased by as much as 30-70%, and property taxes are expected to increase by 5-35%, depending on each individual case, according to the assessor’s office.

The total assessed value for real estate within the county for 2022-2023 increased by 59%, according to McFarland. 

 “In general, commercial properties didn’t appreciate as highly as residential and vacant properties,” she said. While some appeals come in every revaluation cycle, the number varies somewhat. 

The number of appeals coming into the Gunnison County assessor’s office this year was a slow trickle until the last couple days before the deadline, and amounted to a total appeal count of 1,710, or about 8% of Gunnison County’s total parcels, according to McFarland. The total was fewer than she anticipated, and while there were some commercial property appeals, they were “not out of proportion to the number of commercial accounts,” she said.

In contrast, McFarland provided the following historical appeal numbers from the previous eight cycles. 

Property valuation appeals by year
2007 – 2,200

2009 – 2,251

2011 – 1,296

2013 – 531

2015 – 988

2017 – 787

2019 – 905

2021 – 640

The highest recent number of appeals for Gunnison County came in 2009, when property values had increased by 7.7% from the appraisal period prior, and 2007 when property values had increased by 53.6%.  

The assessor’s office will mail out determinations for the appeals by August 15.