Resident’s unfair property tax saga continues

Last year The Santa Fe New Mexican did a story characterizing me as a “crusader” against unfair property tax valuations in regards to an empty lot I own that was overvalued (“County resident crusades against ‘unfair’ property assessments,” July 29). Because of that article, in which Santa Fe County Assessor Isaiah Romero readily admitted to not having sufficient “data” (aka comparable sales) to ensure fair valuations across the county, several people approached me with their own horror stories about dramatically increasing property taxes.

In October, I launched my fourth protest of wildly inflated property valuations occurring annually since 2020 and now await District Court intervention yet again. I’ve prevailed with each challenge, meaning the county had to significantly reduce its contrived estimates in property worth. When I recorded my complaint this last time, court personnel said they had seen a dramatic rise in the number of protest filings.

Clearly there’s a problem, and perhaps The New Mexican’s article helped create awareness of it. But more needs to be done.

The county’s system is populated with sales data to project values, but if you happen to own property (perhaps inherited) in areas where turnover is low, sales from highend properties such as Las Companas, La Tierra and the Historic District are used as surrogates.

This means that it doesn’t matter if your land is in an older, congested area with no views and perhaps surrounded by mobile homes; for lack of “comparables,” the county uses high-dollar sales from other areas to establish the value of properties in the less affluent sales-active neighborhoods.

If the objective is to maximize revenue, then those who can least afford it are the ones being burdened. And as for the appeal process, its purpose is to appease. Ask for proof, evidence or data, and what you get is stonewalling and obfuscation.

Worse yet, if you prevail in your appeal, be prepared for your property’s assessed value to be adjusted back the following year to the original inflated level or higher.

There is little redress from others in power and thus, little protection for taxpayers. According to Santa Fe County Commissioner Anna Hansen, the County Commission lacks jurisdiction when it comes to holding hearings about such matters.

Likewise, New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Secretary Stephanie Clarke, who oversees all county assessor offices across the state, has not answered my request for help orchestrating a statutory revision that prevents county assessors from settling judicially approved property valuations one year, revising them back up the next, and doing so over and over. This seems like a reasonable request and would protect taxpayers from retaliation. But all I’ve heard thus far are crickets.

I’ve since met with the governor’s chief of constituent services for help. The media can help as well by keeping voters informed and by holding those who ignore them to account.

Charles “Chuck” Montaño lives in Santa Fe.