TAOS — A representative of El Monte Sagrado claims the Taos County Assessor's Office has overvalued the luxury resort and spa by $17 million, making it one of the largest property tax protests in the county's history.

According to a form filed in June and provided to The Taos News, El Monte Sagrado claims the 6.6-acre hotel property is worth only $10 million instead of the $27 million posited by the Assessor's Office for 2011.

The protest form referenced an attached operating statement showing "negative income" and a recent appraisal that purportedly set the price of the property at $12.6 million.

The Assessor's Office did not provide copies of the operating statement or the appraisal. Taos County Assessor Darlene Vigil said she did not consider the documents to be public record until the date of an upcoming hearing.

The $17 million in question translates to about $122,000 in potential property tax revenue to the county, town and schools, Vigil said.

This is not the first time El Monte Sagrado has taken issue with its appraised value. In 2009, the hotel filed a protest with the assessor contending that the office's $35.8 million appraisal for that year was more than $15 million too high.

Vigil said the Assessor's Office did an "in-house" adjustment that lowered the appraised value by $8.8 million — to $27 million from $35.8 million. Vigil said that adjustment was based on "an analysis of the market and information" provided by El Monte's agent.

But this year the Assessor's Office has refused to make any downward adjustment. The protest will now go before the Taos County Valuation Protest Board, which is scheduled to hear it at a 10 a.m. pubic hearing Feb. 3 at the Taos County Commission Chambers.

The protest from El Monte Sagrado was among nearly 1,000 property tax protests filed with the Assessor's Office this year.

El Monte Sagrado, opened in 2003, is owned by The Kessler Enterprise Inc., a luxury resort hotelier based in Orlando, Fla. El Monte became part of Marriott International's "Signature Collection" in 2010.