County Assessor Rolls Back Home Values
Real Estate Update with Cheryl Marlow
770 KKOB AM’s Residential Real Estate Specialist!
Bernalillo County homeowners should have received their 2010 Notice of Value around the week of April 19th. Once a year, homeowners get this notice that informs them of the full, taxable and net taxable values on their property. It lets them know in advance what the Assessor believes their property is worth and ultimately the net taxable value will result in a tax bill from the County Treasurer’s Office.
Just recently the County Assessor rolled back some property values to amounts at which they would be valued had they not previously been hit with tax lightning! What’s tax lightning? Well, it’s an abrupt jump in taxes simply because the property changed ownership. A law in New Mexico was made to protect homeowners from tax increases and when the legislature implemented it by capping valuation increases at 3% they also said a property would be reassessed at full value when the home changed hands. Before 2009 there were no disclosure requirements that would forewarn buyers of tax increases, and when challenged in court by 2 taxpayers, the court ruled the tax code unconstitutional because it discriminates among property owners based on when they purchased their homes.
A recent development in the tax lightning debacle involves New Mexico’s Tax and Revenue Secretary Rick Homans planning to order the county to roll back huge value increases in Paa’ko and High Desert! Almost 80 homeowners in those areas were hit with increases that exceed the 3% limit with some reporting increases over 40%! These are huge jumps in value and definitely a cause for questions.
These roll backs by the County Assessor will help because they will put home values back to what they were before the tax lightning hit. What does this mean for homeowners? Well for those who purchased their homes since the law changed it means a likely decrease in their tax bill, which is huge! There is a chance to petition your notice of value, but unfortunately that time has passed for this year. But now, when you receive your notice of value next year you know that you do have the right to petition the value and make sure that it falls under the 3% cap.
Cheryl Marlow
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