About 25% of property owners who protested values won adjustments
The Pueblo County’s assessors office has survived an unprecedented property tax reassessment year wading through a record number of protests after which just more than 1,300 were successfully challenged by property owners.
Hoping to avoid a large increase in property tax bills next year, a total of 5,000 property owners protested the assessed valuation of their properties.
“We lowered 25% of those,” or about 1,250, said Frank Beltran, assessor. “There were then 260 protest hearings for 300 properties that went before the Pueblo County Board of Equalization.”
Beltran said that board normally hears about 40 protests in a busy year.
“We went from one referee to four part-time referees and 25% of those (between 65 and 75) were adjusted,” Beltran said, indicating those property owners were able to successfully obtain a lower assessed valuation.
He said hefty increases in valuations were based on real estate sales between Jan. 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022, as required by state statute. The high market prices sellers were able to obtain during that time really drove the increases.
Beltran has seen a lot of recent history at the Pueblo County Assessor’s office having started work there 43 years ago. He is in his 17th year serving as the elected assessor.
The record number of protests have “never happened before,” Beltran said, and it was a trend that occurred statewide. While Pueblo County’s total property value increased by $5.4 billion this year over last, or about 31%, Beltran said, that was a mild increase compared to some counties.
How other Colorado counties fared
During last week’s assessor’s convention in Steamboat Springs, Beltran learned that in Routt County, where the convention was held, assessed valuations went up 92%.
In looking at other counties like Mesa County, which Beltran said is similar in size to Pueblo County and has a similar number of properties, a total of 5,250 property owners protested and 460 of those went to the board of equalization.
Weld County, where Greeley is the county seat, fielded 11,000 protests and 1,000 of those went to the board of equalization. Arapahoe County, where Littleton is the county seat, fielded 30,000 protests, 2,400 of which went to the board of equalization.
El Paso County, where Colorado Springs is the county seat, fielded 34,500 protests to the assessor of which 3,500 went to the county board of equalization. Douglass County, where Castle Rock is the county seat, fielded 36,000 protests of which 3,600 went to the board of equalization.
“This year broke records for everybody,” Beltran said.
The good news
“The good news is we kept our assessments as low as we possibly could. For residential the median value turned out to be 96.3% of the actual value,” Beltran explained.
Taxpayers also get a break because Pueblo County passed an independent audit, “with flying colors,” meaning the assessments were found to be in compliance with state law.
“If we were out of compliance they would send in a team to reappraise every property category that is out of compliance. That can cost upwards of $500,000 and the taxpayers would have to foot the bill,” Beltran said.
Beltran said his staff of 26 employees, 10 of whom are appraisers, “did an amazing job to do everything they had to do and keep us in compliance.”
What will happen with next year’s property tax bill?
It’s still too early to tell the exact impact of the increased valuations, as mill levies won’t be set by taxing entities in Pueblo County until the end of the year. However, there is some encouraging news.
Thanks to a new state law, the residential assessment rate will drop from 6.95% to 6.75% and the commercial assessment rate will drop from 29% to 27.9%. The law also allows residential homeowners a $15,000 credit off the value of their homes, commercial buildings will get a $30,000 credit and multiuse buildings that are both commercial and residential will get a $45,000 credit.
That reduced amount is what the county treasurer will use as a basis for next year’s tax bill.
Another unknown factor is Proposition HH, which is a proposed statewide ballot measure that would lower property tax rates for the next 10 years. The credit for property tax assessments would also go up to $50,000 for residential properties before they’re taxed, instead of the current $15,000 reduction.
For now, that proposition is in limbo because the Colorado Supreme Court is gauging its legality after several counties and the nonprofit group Advance Colorado challenged it. The state supreme court is expected to rule soon as to whether the measure can be on the November ballot.