| Property holds its value |  |  |
| Written by News Release | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, 04 May 2011 00:00 | ||||||||||||||||||
Property owners in western Colorado may be expecting to see their 2011 Notice of Valuation showing a lower value than their 2009 value, given the ongoing national economic woes. Delta County assessor Debbie Griffith reports that generally the Western Slope market remained relatively stable with pockets of neighborhoods that experienced a decline or increase in value. These neighborhoods were influenced by local economic drivers, such as the oil and gas industry, resulting in values that have decreased more substantially, or increased. As was seen in the 2009 reappraisal, the sales volume, or number of sales occurring, has remained very low. Griffith provided the following breakdown for the four major categories of real property, while stressing that the values are not yet final. She explains, "We have just started our appeal period and have county Board of Equalization ahead that may change value significantly. We have not even set values for the natural resources (coal mine), oil and gas or state assessed properties at this time." Under Colorado law, county assessor's offices throughout the state conduct a complete reassessment of all property in their county every two years. The 2011 reappraisal reflects the real estate market as of the appraisal date on June 30, 2010. Property sales are analyzed in the 18-60 months prior to the appraisal date, and adjusted to match the market conditions as of June 30, 2010. Sales occurring beyond June 30, 2010 cannot be used to set the 2011 value, nor can listing prices or length of time a property has been on the market. Only valid, arms length transactions can be considered in establishing value. Many transactions in the past two years involved foreclosures, Griffith noted. A foreclosure is not a sale; it is a transfer of ownership to the lending agent. When this lending agent (usually a bank or mortgage company) puts the property on the market and it sells, this sale is one that can be considered by assessors. This new valuation is mailed to taxpayers on May 1, 2011 and is used as a basis for 2011 and 2012 property taxes (payable in 2012 and 2013). Because the volume of sales has dramatically decreased in the past four years, the perception of property owners, especially those who have had their property on the market for a length of time, is that values are dropping. However, in general, that is not the case. The assessor's values are not based on the number of sales but on the prices of the properties that have sold during the statutorily required sales data collection period that ended on June 30, 2010. The accompanying graph indicates that the median sales prices have generally shown modest to no declines in Western Slope counties, while the number of sales has been quite low. The value established by assessors is the base from which property taxes are determined. Each property owner shares in providing revenue for local services which includes schools, police and fire protection, local government and public health. The Colorado property tax system is designed to fairly and equitably distribute taxes according to the value of the property. Colorado county assessors are also subject to an independent audit of assessor's valuation methodologies that is one of the most rigorous statistical and procedural audits found in any state.
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