Saturday, November 07, 2009

Tax Bill Protests in County Skyrocket

By Rosalie Rayburn
Copyright © 2009 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Staff Writer
          It's tax time again.
        Those pesky little property tax notices will show up this week in the mailboxes of Sandoval County property owners.
        The bills were mailed on Monday, but staff at the Sandoval County Assessor's Office are still dealing with a major headache that arose after they sent notices of assessed valuation to property owners this spring. The notices provoked nearly 25,000 protests— a record number — from owners who said the value the county put on their property for tax purposes was too high.
        Deputy Assessor John Murphy said counties statewide had an unusually high number of protests, but Sandoval County had the most. He said the sheer numbers have overwhelmed staff and slowed resolution. Counties rely on the state's Taxation and Revenue department to provide hearing officers to help adjudicate the most difficult cases.
        Sandoval County has so far resolved 2,467 protest cases without going to a hearing. In excess of 20,000 cases have gone that route, and the county is still waiting final decisions on more than 18,000.
        Murphy said the Tax Department has told him it will issue all decisions by March 2010. Decisions are binding but can be appealed in district court.
        He said Sandoval County is in a unique position.
        Of the 24,873 protests the county received, 19,317, or 77 percent, came from Amrep Southwest, the company responsible for developing much of Rio Rancho.
        "No other county has an entity that owns so many properties," Murphy said.
        He said the company owns more than 22,000 properties in the Rio Rancho area. Most of the protests were for vacant lots it owns around the city.
        Matt Spangler the attorney representing Amrep acknowledged that the number of protest was "very unusual". But the valuations for 2009 were higher than 2008 and that didn't reflect the decline in the market, he said.
        "That would be OK if values remained flat, but in our opinion market wasn't flat there was a decline in value," Spangler said.
        Typically, county staff work with protesters to reach a mutually acceptable solution. If a property owner can provide "compelling information" that justifies a lower assessment, the county will settle for a lower amount, Murphy said.
        Cases that don't reach resolution go before a hearing board consisting of a hearing officer from the state Taxation and Revenue Department, two Sandoval county residents experienced in property matters, an attorney and a monitor.
        Despite its large holdings, Amrep did not get preferential treatment, Murphy said.
        "They have to come in just like anybody else," he said.
        As of this week, the county is still awaiting a hearing officer's decision on 18,305 Amrep properties.
        The county sends out notices of valuation in April. Tax bills are mailed in November, after the county's budget has been approved and tax rates set by the state Department of Finance Administration. The first half payment of property taxes is due by Dec. 10. If a protest hasn't been resolved by then, the owner must pay the half payment at the full amount. If the protest is subsequently settled for a lower amount, the owner must pay the remaining balance by the date the second half payment is due, Murphy said.
       

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