- Colorado property-tax expert is coming to Dolores County to investigate three factors that may justify lower assessments for farmers.
- Voters in Montezuma and Dolores counties will be weighing in on a number of questions on election day.
A state property-tax expert is coming to Dolores County this week to investigate three factors that may justify lower assessments for farmers. Dolores County Assessor Berna Ernst says she received an order from the Property Tax Administrator’s Office notifying her that the office will be looking into alfalfa-seed costs, water costs, and landlord-tenant ratios for both dry and sprinkler-irrigated farmland. The visit is a result of the county’s decision earlier this year to limit property-tax hikes for farmers to 50 percent. When the state said no to that, Dolores County Commissioner Ernie Williams pleaded the county’s case at an October 8th hearing in Denver, and the state decided his arguments were worth a follow-up. Ernst tells KSJD if the state should decide to adjust the formula for determining farmland values, it would have implications across Colorado.
Tuesday is Election Day, and voters in Montezuma and Dolores counties will be weighing in on a number of questions. Citizens in Dolores School District Re-4A and Dolores County School District Re-2J will vote on mill-levy overrides. Montezuma County Hospital District residents will decide whether to pass a sales and use tax of 4 cents on $10 to fund hospital improvements. Dolores County voters will be choosing whether to form an ambulance district. Another measure would let the Dolores Water Conservancy District permanently set its mill levy at its current amount. There is just one statewide question, Proposition BB. It asks whether to return excess marijuana-tax revenues to voters – in the amount of $8 apiece – or let them be retained for schools and other purposes. If you haven’t already mailed your ballot, you can take it to your county clerk’s office by 7 p.m. Tuesday. Not registered? You can register even on Election Day.
