Assessor wants property tax law made fairer

Posted at: 12/09/2009 6:27 PM
By: Misa Maruyama, Eyewitness News 4, and Kurt Christopher, KOB.com

Critics say a state law designed to protect homeowners from property tax hikes actually backfired.  Now, the Bernalillo County assessor says she's trying to make things fairer by limiting tax increases for thousands of people who bought a home in the past nine years.

Albuquerque resident Jaci Fischer has been calling mortgage brokers non-stop since she built her work studio in 2007.  While getting a permit, she had to have her home reassessed.  That's when she got a real shock.

"That's a 40 percent increase in one year," said Fischer.

That's about $200 more every month in property taxes.

"I just look at the phone and think I can't keep at this.  My salary doesn't keep up at this pace.  I may eventually, and right now it doesn't," Fischer said.

Fischer blames a 2001 law that created what's called "tax lightning."  It capped property tax increases at three percent, but there are a few exceptions for new construction, additions on existing homes and sales of existing homes.

If you bought a home in Bernalillo County since the law passed, your home would be immediately reassessed to reflect current market values.

"If you're talking about assessed values, they can increase by thousands - tens of thousands at that," said Ubusaku Abukusumo, CEO of National Tax Company.

That means new homeowners could pay double the property taxes than previous owners.

But since two district court judges ruled the law to be unconstitutional, Bernalillo County assessor Karen Montoya says she wants to eliminate the part of the law that increases home values when they're sold.  While homeowners won't be refunded what they've already paid, their property tax bills could be cheaper next year.

As for people who build additions to their homes like Fischer, Montoya says that issue will have to be addressed at a later date.

Eyewitness News 4 also checked in with Valencia County assessor Viola Garcia-Vallejos.  She says she will follow the "tax lightning" law until she hears otherwise from lawmakers.  Without the law, she says Valencia County homes could be undervalued and the county could lose vital tax revenue.

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