How To Lower Your Property Tax Bill
By Marshall Zelingerm.zelinger@krdo.comFollow me on Twitter atwww.twitter.com/mzelinger
EL PASO COUNTY – Looking to save money? You may want to try getting your property tax bill reduced. In May, you’ll get your property tax bill, which is based on the county’s assessed value of your home. Problem is, the assessed value is based on home prices before June 2008. If you think your home value has gone down since then, you’ll have to appeal your property tax bill by calling or e-mailing your county assessor.
“We can’t consider any sales that have occurred after June of 2008,” says El Paso County Assessor Mark Lowderman. “The problem from a property owner standpoint, is that since we cut-off in June of 2008, values have continued to decline.”
When your neighbor sells their home, that selling price can affect your assessed value, ultimately affecting how much you pay in property tax. Because of state law, even if property values have gone down since last summer, your property tax may not.
“This year we anticipate a busy appeal period. I think the perception out there, and rightly so, is that most property values have tailed off and are decreasing,” says Lowderman. “We’ve ranged in the last three or four appraisal cycles between 3,000 and 6,000 appeals, depending on the year.”
To appeal, you just have to contact your county assessor. Just remember, any adjustments will still be based on home values as of June 2008, not current values.
“If you have the knowledge of some sales in your neighborhood that you want us to consider, by all means include those,” says Lowderman.
Many county assessor websites have a comparable search function. You can use this feature to search for selling prices of homes like yours.
Trying to get your property tax bill lowered won’t necessarily lower your home’s resale value. Remember, your property tax bill is based on last year home values, not current home values.
The assessed value of your home is the taxable portion of the market value. In most cases, the taxable portion is 7.96%. Depending on where you live, your tax breakdown will differ because of mill levies for the city, county, school districts and libraries. When you appeal, you’re not appealing your tax payments, but rather the assessed value of your home that determines your tax payments.
Even if you can’t get your property tax bill lowered, you may benefit when the county reassesses your home’s value in two years. In May 2011, your home’s value will be based on home sales from July 2008 through June 2010.
“You could see a benefit, but you might not see it on your tax bill for a couple of years,” says Lowderman.
Foreclosures won’t necessarily affect your property tax bill either. According to Lowderman, county assessors try to wait until the home is sold again after foreclosure to get closer to the actual value of that property, and in turn your property.
