Property owners who hoped the economic slump might lower their tax bills should not expect to see any changes until next year.
Colorado counties assess property values every two years. Bills that owners have begun to receive in the mail reflect the value of property for the 18-month period that ended June 30, 2008 — just before the recession hit property values hard.
The next property-value assessment will be mailed to property owners May 1 and will be based on sales between Jan. 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010.
That assessment should more accurately reflect the real-estate slump, though not everyone will see a drop in their property value.
“They will pick up those two years (2009 and 2010) in the new assessments, but whether that raises or lowers their property value depends on the individual property,” said Jefferson County Assessor Jim Everson. “It’s not uniform across the county.”
Many county assessors’ offices have received calls from residents who don’t understand why their most recent property taxes have not decreased as market values have spiraled down.
“It’s not all that uncommon with Colorado being on a two-year assessment cycle,” said Arapahoe County Deputy Assessor Steve Sneddon. “The new assessments will be more indicative of the market change.”
After the new notices of valuation go out this spring, owners have until June 1 to appeal if they think their property was overvalued.
“You never really get a chance to protest your taxes, but you get the chance to protest your value,” said state property-tax administrator JoAnn Groff.
Everson said his office is expecting many appeals after the notices of valuation go out.
“There is the perception that the recession will mean changes in the value of their property,” he said. “Then there are a number of people who tried to refinance and were led to some sort of value and were turned down. The assessment may not be the value that they expected.”
County assessors typically see much higher appeal rates during years that new assessments are mailed out.
Although it is too late to file an appeal for 2010, if there were factual errors made in the assessment of the property, owners might be able to file for an abatement.
“It’s important to look at the characteristics of the property to see if they are correct,” Sneddon said. “The number of bedrooms, the number of bathrooms, the square footage — those all impact the value.”
Assessors said the most important thing to remember when deciding whether to appeal is that the value might not necessarily reflect what the property is worth today.
“Most people don’t realize what we’re being asked to do,” Everson said. “We’re appraising properties based on a date that is almost a year old by the time they are getting their assessments.”
Mitchell Byars: 303-954-1698 or mbyars@denverpost.com
