People rush to pay property taxes Friday in Colorado Springs

The fear of long lines to pay property taxes at the end of 2017 failed to materialize Friday in Colorado Springs.

Clerks in the El Paso County Treasurer’s Office said that after an initial crush when the doors opened at 8 a.m., activity ranged from sporadic to steady.

“I’m very surprised, I expected it to be busier that this,” said a woman while proudly holding up her property tax receipt. “This was quick and easy.”

With Friday being the last business day of the year, many people heeded advice from financial professionals to prepay property taxes before recent tax law changes by Congress take effect in 2018.

“Man CPAs and income tax preparers are saying that people who are used to certain deductions this year, may not get them starting next year,” said county treasurer Mark Lowderman.

However, many people prepaying Friday were frustrated that the exact impact of tax law changes are unclear.

“We’ve heard the experts say what they think will happen or what could happen, but we don’t know for sure,” a customer said.

Lowderman said around 200 of the 250,000 property tax bill recipients normally prepay.

“But on the day after Christmas, we had 500 people just on that Tuesday alone,” he said. “And every other day this week was busy.”

Lowderman also said prepayers were paying based on estimated assessed value for 2017 because official tax statements aren’t mailed out until mid-January.

“Even if you prepay, you’ll get a statement,” he said. “You may get a refund for overpaying, or a bill for underpaying. But we try to assure everyone that what they’re paying today is likely all they’ll need to pay.”

Lowderman said the average payment usually is around $900 but was closer to $3,000 Friday.

“I moved here from California and New York because our property taxes are much lower,” a customer said. “But it’s still a lot to pay at once. And I had to pay more because voters passed a mill levy increase in my district.”

Most prepayers welcomed the chance to enjoy any tax savings.

“If my brother hadn’t told me about this, I wouldn’t have known,” a customer said. “I just came back from vacation late last night and came here as soon as I could to prepay. But will it actually save me money? I think the jury’s still out on that.”

Lowderman says the county collects around $500 million in property taxes annually.