The La Plata County Abstract is mostly set for 2016 and will apply to taxes to be collected in 2017.
Colorado Assessors are still on the 2014 level of appraisal value due to the state appraisal cycle, and these numbers represent changes using actual value in 2014 dollars, throughout the county as of Jan. 1, 2016.
The results show strong development in some sectors and continued weakness in others:
Vacant land value has increased 1.3 percent or $6,419,219,000, primarily due to subdividing.Residential land and construction value is up 1.7 percent or $131,138,830.Commercial/Industrial land and construction value is up 2.3 percent or $30,860,370.Natural resource, coal and gravel values are down 4.8 percent or $1,826,190, primarily due to less coal production.Oil and Gas property value is down 32.9 percent or $583,084,740, primarily because of natural gas prices.And finally, State Assessed utility values are up 3.9 percent or $10,291,350.Overall, the county saw its tax base drop 18 percent this year because of lower volume and price for natural gas taken from the ground. Other taxing entities saw varying changes depending on property new construction and the gas wells and associated infrastructure, in that service area. The span was from 3 percent up to 56 percent down.
This means that service areas that have numerous gas and oil wells and associated infrastructure but little new building construction saw the greatest tax base loss while new construction areas saw increases.
Next year we will see increases in the value of real estate properties based on property sales since June 30, 2014, where we have analyzed around 4,000 real estate sales. Natural gas value will remain weak, based on the prices through the first nine months of 2016.
As with most prospectuses, I’ll conclude with the fact that assessor’s office staff has, again, fulfilled the requirements of the Colorado State Property Assessment Study Audit, which verifies that our property valuation and processes are appropriate and complete.
The La Plata County Assessor’s office is happy to answer questions about valuation at any time.
Craig N. Larson
La Plata County Assessor
Durango
