Phones have been ringing off the hook at the La Plata County Assesor’s Office ever since property tax bills were mailed in late January.
“We’re on the phone pretty much constantly,” said Carrie Woodson, La Plata County assessor. “… We get a call about every five minutes.”
For callers hoping to reduce their tax bills, there is little the county can do.
While the assessor determines property values used to calculate taxes, the county does not set assessment rates or adjustments. Those are determined by state law, and all county assessors and treasurers are required to follow it.
“If you are concerned that your value is not correct, then yes, you need to call us and let us take a look at that value or classification of your property,” Woodson said. “But taxes are a combination of mill levies (and) assessment rates that go on top of that value. So I have no control over any of those things.”
The calls follow the sizable property tax increases most Colorado homeowners experienced this year.
“I just got my property bill two days ago, and it jumped considerably,” said Colin Shadell, a Durango homeowner.
He estimated his bill last year was roughly $2,000. This year, it jumped to about $2,800, which Shadell said was a surprise, though somewhat expected considering the recent approval of mill levy increases for Durango’s school and fire districts.
He said he’s not overly upset about it, and drew a comparison to New Jersey where property taxes can be five times as much. But it still cuts into the family income.
He’s watched costs rise year after year, and he and his wife – parents of two young children – are on the hook for child care, taxes and a plethora of other everyday expenses.
“The bills add up,” he said. “There’s not a lot of money left over for mom and dad.”
One driving factor behind the statewide tax jump is the expiration of temporary tax discounts.
Previous state legislation gave residential property owners a temporary $55,000 reduction in actual value for tax years 2023 and 2024. A home’s value is one part of the formula used to calculate property taxes, so any change has a notable effect on the annual bill.
The reduction expired this year, increasing taxable values, even if the assessed rate of a home remained the same.
Another big contributor is rising property values.
La Plata County market values increased this year, according to a news release from the Assessor’s Office.
Take a hypothetical home valued at $685,000 in 2023. With the $55,000 reduction, taxes would be calculated using an assessed value of $630,000.
If the home were valued higher during the 2025 assessments, say at $700,000, that amount would be used in the property tax formula, since the $55,000 reduction has expired.
To determine property taxes, the “actual value” is multiplied by the assessment rate to determine the “assessed value,” which is then multiplied by the mill levy set by taxing entities such as the county, municipalities and school, fire and library districts.
Residents can use La Plata County’s online property tax calculator at bit.ly/46FBX1t to enter their name or address and see a breakdown of the taxing entities that make up their total bill.
Last year, homeowners paid taxes on 6.7% of their home’s actual value – the lowest assessment rate in state history, according to the county release.
This year, state lawmakers created two separate assessment rates: a school district rate that increased the assessment rate to 7.05%, and a rate for all other special districts that decreased from 6.7% to 6.25%.
The increase in the school district rate has a greater impact than the special district decrease because school districts typically make up a larger share of the tax bill.
Changing assessment rates have been the norm for the last three years, Woodson and other experts say.
“For years and years, the way we calculate value in taxes did not change,” she said. “And then in the last three years, it’s changed every year and will change again next year.”
Next year, a credit on residential properties equal to the first $700,000 will be applied to taxes owed to non-school entities, and the school assessment rate will drop to 6.8%.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
