Rest Assured, Property Taxes Will Be Collected

Assessor says she has added many missing properties to rolls

There have recently been news articles discussing properties that have not appeared on the tax roll, and the citizens of Bernalillo County are left wondering why and how that can happen.

I have had the honor of serving the citizens of Bernalillo County the last six years as the county assessor, and I have worked in the property tax industry for over 20 years. Improved properties not being on the tax roll have been an ongoing problem over the years. In one instance a property had not been on the property tax rolls since 1990. In 2009 we discovered the improvement value was not on the tax roll, but by statute we could only impose taxes for the previous 10 years.

The first year that I took office one of my goals was to digitize our property record cards so we could update them via computer and print property record cards on demand. The residential property project took two and a half years.

We looked at every residential property record card in the county and sketched the building, showing measurements and total square footage. Itemizing each property resulted in the Assessor’s Office adding additional properties every year, 367 omitted properties to date. In 2012 we have added 32 properties, including those properties identified by the media.

We strive for accuracy in placing all property on the tax rolls. I am committed to placing all omitted assessments on the tax roll. There are statutes in place in the case of an omitted assessment that allows county assessors to assess a property owner and back-tax up to 10 years.

So don’t believe everything you read. The taxes owed on the omitted properties the Journal has identified will be collected in full.

I have put more omitted assessments on the tax roll than any past assessor, and I am very proud of that achievement. I have fought “tax lightning,” which unfairly resulted in property taxes to double or triple and in some cases, even greater increases.

I have worked hard as your county assessor, and we are continually making changes to ensure all properties are on the tax roll and we must continue to adjust our procedures as the office evolves to do even a better job in the future.

On another note, I want to thank the voters of Public Regulation Commission District 1 for the confidence you have placed in me to represent you as your PRC commissioner.

The Albuquerque Journal stated I had opposed all three PRC amendments, which is not true. In the Journal questionnaire I answered as a PRC candidate I supported one of the three constitutional amendments.

While Amendment #2 passed overwhelmingly, Amendments #3 and #4 passed with less than 51 percent of the vote.

You can be assured I will work hard to implement the changes you have voted for and I will work every day as your representative on the PRC to do what is right for the citizens of New Mexico.