Property owners in La Plata County should have received their property tax bills last week, but little has changed in terms of assessed value this year. However, property owners should expect to pay more when they receive their 2023 tax bills in April 2024.
The county assessor’s office works on a two-year cycle to assess properties that have been sold. The last period ended June 30, 2022, and County Assessor Carrie Woodson and her staff are now working to parse that data, but it will not affect taxed value until the treasurer sends out 2023 property tax bills next year.
Disabled veterans property tax exemption
Property tax bills sent by the La Plata County Treasurer’s Office contained an incorrect address for disabled veterans seeking a property tax exemption. The correct address is:
Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs
Division of Veterans Affairs
155 Van Gordon St., Suite 201
Lakewood, Colorado 80228
Phone: 303-914-5832 Fax: 303-914-5414
The treasurer’s office can be contacted with any questions as (970) 382-6352.
Notices of value will go out to all property owners in La Plata County by May 1.
Woodson uses the sales of properties purchased in the last two year period, from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2022, to determine the value of all property in the county for the tax year 2023.
She said the job before her office is bigger this year than in the past.
“Over the last two-year period, we have had quite a few more sales than we have in the past,” Woodson said. “Typically, we have somewhere around 2,500 to 3,500 sales, and over this last two-year period, we had 6,100 sales.”
Of the county’s 34,967 residential parcels, the owners of 7,795 of them – or 22% – have a primary address listed out of state, which suggests those could be second homes or rental properties. Woodson said the number of parcels with out-of-state owners has not changed much in recent years.
While tax rates will vary depending on location and mill levies (the tax rate per dollar of assessed value), Woodson said assessed values have risen across the board.
While some sectors of the property market are gaining value more than others, Woodson said that countywide, assessed value is up by roughly 20%. Properties that have historically been less expensive are up even more.
“Anything under $500,000 is selling for more – anything that was affordable,” she said. “Condos, for instance, took a fairly dramatic increase in value from what we're seeing so far.”
The assessed value of a property is correlated to, but not the same as its market value. An increase in the assessed value of cheaper properties points to a phenomenon with which many county residents, particularly those in Durango, are already familiar: the area is becoming increasingly expensive, and quickly.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
This story has been updated to clarify that the assessments currently underway will impact the 2023 tax year, for which bills won’t be sent out until 2024.
