Property values in El Paso County rose nearly 5 percent in the latest assessor’s reappraisal, which should ease fears that sinking housing prices will mean less tax revenues in 2010, but will likely mystify or anger property owners expecting a steep decline.

County Assessor Mark Lowderman said Monday the reappraisal, based on sales data from Jan. 1, 2007, through June 30, 2008, found nearly every type of property rose in value, for a total of $6.96 billion.

That figure would come down if there are successful protests challenging the assessor’s appraisal.

During the 18-month reappraisal period, vacant land went up on average 7.8 percent; residential, 4.5 percent; commercial, 10.5 percent, and industrial, 8.1 percent. Only agricultural land declined by .08 of a percent.

While those increases seem counterintuitive during a down economic cycle, Lowderman emphasized the reappraisal was based by state law on a period before the plunge in values in late 2008 and early 2009.

The countywide valuation stands at $6.96 billion, compared to 2008’s pre-appeal value of $6.65 billion. But Lowderman predicted appeals would push the total down by 2.5 percent – about twice the drop seen in each of the last two years.

“I think that the difference will be more pronounced in 2009 due to a busy appeal period, driven by people paying more attention to the value fluctuations of their property,” he said in an e-mail.

Notices of value will be mailed in a couple of weeks, and appeal procedures are outlined on the notices.

Property owners can appeal values to the Assessor’s Office from May 1 through June 1. If they’re not happy with the outcome, they can appeal to the county Board of Equalization, which will consider appeals for a month starting July 6.

The Board of Equalization findings are forwarded to county commissioners for a final decision, which usually agrees with the board.

The increase in assessed value is important, because it’s the figure upon which the county’s property tax collections will be based for the 2010 budget year. Assessed values for all taxing districts within the county aren’t yet available.

A higher value means the county likely will collect more property tax revenue in 2010 than this year, although it’s doubtful that amount will exceed revenue caps imposed by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights and the old Mill Levy Law, Lowderman said. Those laws restrict how much new revenue can be raised year to year.

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Call Zubeck at 636-0238

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