County property tax decreases

QCS Managing Editor

The value of Quay County properties assessed for taxes has decreased by a net amount of about $14.6 million for the current tax year, compared with last tax year’s values, according to Janie Hoffman, county assessor.

The net taxable valuation for Quay County for tax year 2013 was a little less than $192.5 million, according to a New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration table. The $14.6 million reduction from value is about 7.6 percent of that total. These numbers represent actual value of these properties, she said, not the value that used to figure taxes, which is about a third of that amount.

In a report to the Quay County Commission on Feb. 24, Hoffman said a total of $18 million in properties removed from tax rolls was offset by about $3.5 million in additions to the property tax base.

About $17.6 million in residential property value was taken off tax rolls, and just under $262,000 was in non-residential deletions, according to Hoffman’s report.

Hoffman said largest factor in the deletions was properties of the Ute Lake Ranch development going into receivership as part of the development’s bankruptcy.

There was more than $2.1 million added to the tax rolls in residential property and just over $1 million in non-residential additions over the course of this tax year, she said.

At the Feb. 24 meeting, the commission also:

* Awarded a contract to replace six heating, ventilation and air conditioning units at the Quay County Detention Center to Steel Heating, Cooling and Electric of Tucumcari. The total cost of the contract is $82,775, according to Richard Primrose, Quay County manager. Primrose said $50,000 of that total is from a state capital outlay from last year, and $32,775 is from local tax funds.

* Agreed to let local officials apply for local distributions of state grant funds to finance driving while intoxicated law enforcement and prevention programs in the county. Primrose said a total of $93,236 will be available to the county for these programs, about $1,000 more than the county received last year. These funds, he said, are spent on programs aimed at prevention, compliance monitoring and tracking, and coordination, planning and evaluation.

* Learned that a capital outlay bill that includes $186,000 in capital outlay funds for Quay County Detention Center roof repairs, and $50,000 for a new study of Ute Lake’s capacity to yield water to regional and municipal water utilities had passed in both houses of the New Mexico State Legislature. The bill is awaiting Gov. Susana Martinez’s signature.