To my audience who might also own property in this ranch, notably those who have a dwelling upon it. Costilla County is up to something fishy, and we all need to contact them, and demand resolution. Property taxes are changing in this ranch, for home owners in this ranch, and seemingly nowhere else in the County.
My tax bill for 2021 is a 131% increase from 2020. I have checked several of yours, and heard from others – your property tax bill is more than doubling in the ranch in 2021, if, and only if, you own a lot with a house on it. Vacant lots, on the other hand, are going up an average of two percent.
The county representatives claim that we are selling land, selling houses, and property values are increasing, and thus our tax increase is merely a reflection of such. I will concur, property prices are rising all over the place, and vacant land and houses alike are far more expensive here than even a year ago.
The county also claimed that we voted to fund two new schools in Fort Garland, and the new ambulance service, so naturally, taxes will increase. All of this sound reasonable until you ask the following questions:
- If land values have doubled in this county, why aren’t the taxes increasing proportionally on the vacant land lots (recall, a 2% average increase versus more than a doubling if you have a dwelling on your lot).
- If my property taxes are increasing 131% this year to pay for Fort Garland improvements, why are most house lot property taxes in our neighboring Forbes Park set to DECREASE next year, or remain flat?. (Look up 191 Pascoe Lane in Forbes – property taxes are dropping $150 next year whilst my neighbor reports a 121% increase in his tax bill. Or, try ANY property on Andes Loop, one increases 4%, the rest are flat or decrease. There is no tax hike happening to home owners in the Forbes Park subdivision whilst yours more than double this year.).
- Shouldn’t the county distribute the cost of the new schools, the ambulance service, etc. and spread the adjustments across the entire county, or at least with the illusion of fairness across the region? Why is the adjustment only to homeowners in this particular subdivision?
I now know it is not related to our agricultural status, but I do not know what it is related to. Please call the county yourself, and let me know if you get a different answer – the increase. selective as it is, cannot just be an increase for new funding – otherwise, why does it target only home owners in this ranch and nowhere around us?
Check your own taxes here – click this link below, and then click the County Assessor Property Search link to see how much your next tax bill will increase: https://costillacounty.colorado.gov/departments/assessor