Pitkin County Property Tax Appeals Pending, ADN

As local special districts prepare to finalize their mill levies, or taxing rates, this week, there are still more than 150  property valuation appeals working their way through the system.

ASPEN REAL ESTATE - The unusually high number of property valuation protests started this year in Pitkin County after the county assessor sent out valuation notices to property owners.Overall, the assessor found that property values had gone up about 40 percent from mid-2006 to mid-2008 based on sales of property during that time. Those sales were used to estimate the value of neighboring or similar properties in what is known as a “mass appraisal.”However, by the time many people got their property valuation notices in early 2009, the local real estate market had dropped sharply and the new valuations suddenly seemed too high.That no doubt played a role in the 4,628 valuation protests — representing 23 percent of the property in the county — that then flooded assessor Tom Isaac’s office.
By Brent Gardner-Smith, Dec. 9, 2009 ADN

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