State orders new assessments on homes

Affordable housing rules not properly applied, tax chief says

Phaedra Haywood | The New Mexican

7/11/2008 - 7/12/08

Taxation and Revenue Secretary Rick Homans has ordered county assessors to adjust the valuations of homes purchased through affordable housing programs as directed by a law passed in March. He said he issued the order Tuesday to clarify confusion around the new law, for which regulations are not in place yet.

The law was created to give tax relief to people who bought homes at lower-than-market prices via subsidized housing programs. It lets those homeowners — many of whom do not own 100 percent of the equity in their homes — pay taxes based on what they actually paid for the houses instead of on the properties' market value.

Homans said that because the law was passed in the middle of a tax cycle, there was no time for assessors to adjust the valuation on the properties. Because of this, the notices of valuation that owners of subsidized homes received were based on the market value of their property.

Those in Santa Fe County who protested were told by the assessor's office that the valuation couldn't be changed until the regulations defining the new law were written by the Taxation and Revenue Department.

But, perhaps unknown to them, Homans said, county assessors can and should consider the new law immediately and adjust any valuations that don't comply with the legislation.

Santa Fe County Assessor Domingo Martinez said he'll comply with Homans' order but is not sure how. "They still need to tell us exactly what we need to do," he said.

Martinez said he met with Taxation and Revenue staff members Wednesday to try to hammer out a procedure for valuing subsidized homes that will comply with the new law. "It's not an easy task. I still have questions about the order and the regulations," he said.

Martinez said he and the state tax officials did a "dry run" using one county taxpayer situation as a test model for determining what factors need to be considered when valuing property purchased through subsidized housing programs. Another test case will be worked on next week, Martinez said.

Homans said his staff is crafting new regulations that will make it easier for Martinez and other assessors to apply the new law. But, contrary to what Property Tax Division Director Rick Silva told The New Mexican last week, those regulations will not be done in three weeks. A more accurate estimate, Homans said, is that they will be completed by December.

He said the situations of property owners who protested their notices of valuation will be sorted out as part of the protest process. Those who didn't file protests but think they qualify for the tax break still can ask their county assessor for an adjustment. The order he sent out Tuesday, Homans said, lets assessors make the adjustments even though the protest period has passed.

He said all the adjustments should be made in time for correct tax bills to be sent out in November.

City affordable housing director Kathy McCormick said her staff will coordinate with the assessor's office on a series of meetings in different parts of the city where people can find out what documents they'll need to prove they qualify for the tax break. She said her office will make "a real strong effort" to make sure those who bought homes through the city's affordable housing program are notified by mail or e-mail when the dates for those meetings are set.

Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or phaywood@sfnewmexican.com