Valuations up, down, sideways on local property

Many residents of Larimer and Weld Counties are breathing a sigh of relief after receiving their annual notice of property values – the precursor to their property tax bill.

Others may be left to wonder what happened, depending if their property value skyrocketed or fell like a meteor.

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The annual notices reflect market value of agricultural and residential property as of June 30, 2004. The county assessors are required to re-appraise every property in odd-numbered years.

In Weld County, real property valuations increased $500 million – or 20 percent – from 2003 to 2004 and the increase for 2005 currently stands at $192 million – about 6.5 percent. The county gets 90 percent of the annual increase from gas and oil increases, which aren’t tallied until the beginning of June.

“We are just now starting to get oil and gas companies to report,´ said Christopher Woodruff, Weld County chief deputy assessor. “We also have another big asset for this year with the Calpine power plant near Hudson coming on line.”

Officials with Larimer County said real property valuations increased $76 million from 2003 to 2004, or 2.4 percent. The county will not release the increase for 2005 until all calculations are complete at the end of July.

“Generally we are seeing increases that are lower now than they have been in the last decade,´ said Larimer County Assessor Larry Johnson. “But, that doesn’t mean all the property values are following – some are up 45 percent while others are up 100 percent.”

Johnson said his office has been focused on cleaning up inaccurate data or values; this is accounting for some of the extreme valuation swings.

“If we have low values in the system for a property, it is not uncommon to see an increase of 45 percent,” he said. “The market didn’t say that a house dropped 30 percent during the period, there are a lot of variables that determine a value.”

The property values are determined by comparable sales from January 2003 to June 2004 within the geographic competitive area. Assessors with both counties declined to give a median price for residential property because of diverse locations, structures and the size of the county.

“The breakdown depends on the type of construction and its location,” Woodruff said. “We had 4,000 new construction (homes) added in 2004.”

The assessment does not indicate the current market price; it is based on figures that are at least six months old.

Residential property is taxed at 7.96 percent, the number set by the state to make sure money coming from residential property is 10 percent less than that paid by commercial property, a 55/45 ratio that’s mandated by the state constitution.

The residential rate is the same rate as 2003-2004. Commercial and industrial properties and vacant land are assessed at 29 percent of their actual value. Agricultural land is taxed based on a formula of the landlord’s share of typical base crops for the previous decade.

The notice of value is the first step in developing the actual tax dollars due on the property. Taxing authorities, such as the county, cities, fire districts and school districts will use the assessed value in determining their budgets and mill levies or tax rates in December. The taxes that are based on the new 2005 valuations will not be due until 2006.

Larimer County issued 134,000 notices of value on parcels in the county, while Weld County issued 111,000 notices.

If residents disagree with the value, they may protest during May 2005. They can mail, fax or e-mail their protest to their respective assessor’s office. Property owners should include any pertinent information regarding their estimate of the property value with the protest material.

For information about valuation protests, contact the Larimer County Assessor at (970) 498-7050, or the Weld County Assessor at (970) 353-3845, ext. 3657.