Owners of agricultural land could see a change in how their property is assessed for taxes, County Assessor Craig Larson told shareholders at the Pine River Irrigation District annual meeting on Saturday, Jan. 28.

"This year we'll re-value all properties in the county," he said. This is homes, land, and other assessment categories in the towns and rural areas. Assessed values are updated every two years. New assessed values this year will affect property taxes due in 2018.

The assessment rate on houses and residential land is likely to go down from 7.96 to 6.56 because of the amount of home construction statewide, governed by the 1982 Gallagher Amendment, Larson said. Gallagher created a changeable rate for residential property and fixed rate for non-residential. The assessment rate for commercial and vacant land is fixed at 29 percent, and oil and gas production and facilities at 87.5 percent.

Ag land is valued according to its productive value, including production costs and commodity prices, Larson said. It can vary according to whether it is flood or center-pivot irrigated, not irrigated, as well as a 10-year average of commodity prices per bushel. That average will go up because of high crop prices in 2014 and 2015, Larson said.

The updated 10-year average drops off two years of low prices and adds those two years of statewide high prices. Asked if there's a way to use prices from Southwest Colorado, Larson responded, "No one here is seeing those (statewide) prices. Probably everyone in this room doesn't sell as much hay as two or three people on the Front Range."

He continued, "We figure your local yields. It's not as high here. We use the local cost of fertilizer. We look at the expense of the water," and what it generally costs to produce the product.

Property valuations are affected by location, how close the property is to shopping and schools, and market conditions in the area, "so you aren't compared with the Animas or Florida" areas. The county is divided into 12 economic areas, including Vallecito, north of Bayfield, near Bayfield, and the large Ignacio/southeast area.

Houses are appraised on location and sales of similar properties in the neighborhood, also the size, quality, and condition of the property, he said. "We immediately visit all properties that have sold to validate the inventory," he said.

Larson turned to how property taxes in the county are distributed. The largest share goes to schools. The rest goes to the towns, assorted special districts, and the county. "Look at your tax bill to see how much you are paying to each tax entity, whether you are getting the service you want for what you are paying," he said.

Land in the Bayfield School District has the highest combined property taxes because of voter-approved bond issues, he said.

In the PRID meeting itself, long-time board member Steve Pargin was re-elected by acclamation.

He gave a rundown on PRID finances. Expected income for 2017 is almost $453,000, including $146,000 from shareholder assessments and $142,000 from exchange income.

Total dam operation and maintenance expenses are listed at $384,664, including $185,700 for payroll, $59,500 for repairs, and $37,250 for professional fees. Spending also includes $5,500 for beaver control and $3,850 for cloud seeding.

Recreation revenue and expenses are budgeted separately. Revenue is budgeted at $99,313, including $48,113 from the Bureau of Reclamation and the rest from user fees and permits. Spending is projected to be $104,750, including $78,000 for payroll.

"There are a lot of people who don't like paying the $3" daily parking fee, Pargin said. "A fee is a fee. People don't like paying fees, especially when they've had it for years for nothing." The fees were instituted several years ago to help cover PRID's recreation costs, so irrigators aren't subsidizing recreation.

Longtime valley resident Ken Beck took over as PRID's dam superintendent last summer. He worked for many years for the Bureau of Reclamation in Durango. "I want to do a public outreach effort to show people how inexpensive the fees are," he said.

He reported the measure of snowpack water content above Vallecito is at 177 percent of normal. In-flow to the reservoir was down last week because of the cold. Beck said dam releases were at 70 cubic feet per second. "We're going to increase those to 150 or 200 to get water off the (dam release) gates."

He said earlier in the winter he worried the reservoir might not fill this spring. "Now I'm worrying about flooding," he said.