Taxpayers in a Las Animas County town call for change over property tax revenue being withheld

AGUILAR, Colo. (KRDO) -- More than $115,000 of property tax revenue has been withheld from the Town of Aguilar for failing to file financial audits with the state in the last four years.

State law requires all municipalities to file an audit each year unless they are given an exemption. According to the Office of the Colorado State Auditor, the Town of Aguilar hasn’t filed an audit since 2018 — a violation of state law.

Due to the town’s delinquency and to try and get it in compliance, the State Auditor placed a hold on the town’s property tax revenue in October 2020. Nearly three years later, that hold remains in place — totaling $115,901.39 — and the town’s four audits from 2019 to 2022 still haven’t been turned in to the state.

Residents of Aguilar have now taken to the streets outside town hall protesting for transparency and accountability.

“If you and me are required to do our taxes every year on April 15, by midnight in the mailbox, and this state has a law that mandates every town has to do an audit required by law once a year, how can they get away with this many years to the point of having our tax dollars withheld from our community? Something is going on,” said Paul Sammataro, an Aguilar resident.

Donald Gonzales, the mayor of Aguilar, said the COVID-19 pandemic made it hard to find auditors to do the work.

“We had an auditor that quit on us,” he said. “From there, it went to a different auditor. We couldn't get the numbers straightened out and everything and then COVID hit. So from there, we were trying to get an auditor to get everything done.”

Sammataro said being four years late on an audit and blaming it on the pandemic is an “excuse.”

“If you or me or the citizens of this town didn't file their taxes, the government's not going to allow me to tell them, ‘Well COVID.’ They're not going to tell me that you got five years to do it,” Sammataro said.

In emails with Sammataro back in March, the Office of the State Auditor told him the town was currently in the process of filing its delinquent audits. However, five months later, the audits still haven’t been turned in to the state.

“They are allowed to make excuses,” he said. “That's why this is continuing to go on because it’s one excuse from another to another. If you reached out today, it would be another excuse why those audits are not completed yet.”

13 Investigates asked Gonzales why it’s taken so long to file the delinquent audits and he said audits are a lot of work and take time, but ultimately it’s not the town’s fault.

“We don't do the audit, so it won't be on the town dragging their feet,” Gonzales said. “It's up to our auditors to go ahead and get that done.”

Residents told 13 Investigates they are upset that their property taxes are being wasted and many are beginning to question the town’s finances.

“I believe where there's smoke, there's fire,” Sammataro said. “ I would love the administration to tell me I'm wrong, to tell the community we're wrong. Show us where the money is going. Show us why the audit is taking so long.”

13 Investigates asked Aguilar’s mayor if the town currently has any financial problems, and Gonzales said no. He said the nearly $116,000 of withheld tax revenue “does affect us, but it hasn't affected us that bad. We can make our bills and pay what we have to so nothing has been missed.”

The Town of Aguilar is supposedly working on its delinquent audits. Once they are complete, the withheld tax revenue will be released back to the town.

“Once we get this all resolved in our town, (the tax revenue) will go ahead and come back into our general fund — gas, phone, water — whatever we need for the town to go ahead and keep going,” Gonzales said.