By Irene Josey – Larimer County Treasurer

The Surveyor

As your Larimer County Treasurer, I often answer questions regarding what property taxes are due and when they must be paid. I enjoy helping property owners and county taxpayers understand the process of tax collection in Larimer County and what role your Treasurer’s Office plays in this necessary process.

The main function of the County Treasurer is to collect, invest and distribute property taxes certified by the taxing authorities and special districts. On the technical side, the authorities’ mill levies are certified to the county and the County Assessor adds the assessed value of each property to the tax roll. The tax roll is then certified to the County Treasurer for collection and distribution back out to the taxing authorities and districts which certified their mill levies earlier. About 53% of property taxes received are distributed to the school districts, 25% supports the county to provide services to our residents, 14% to special districts and about 8% to the ci

stamp taxes with red text over white background

ties and towns in Larimer County. We will be collecting over $55.5 million more in property tax dollars this year due to both increased values and more actual properties assessed.

In Colorado, we collect property taxes one year in arrears. This year, we’ll be collecting 2017 taxes payable in 2018. In the first part of May 2017, property owners in Larimer County received a Notice of Valuation (NOV) from the Assessor’s Office, showing a 25% average increase in value of their property. Property values are reassessed every two years and NOV’s are mailed to notify property owners of the new value. We know property values in Larimer County have increased in the last several years and paying higher taxes can be challenging. There was a window of opportunity to protest the new value and the Assessor’s Office encouraged residents that didn’t agree with their new property values to protest that new value during the month of May until June 1, 2017, that some property owners took advantage of. The new value will be reflected on the tax statement you’ll be receiving shortly. We’re expecting to mail 155,563 tax statements by the end of this week. It is important to know that your taxes will likely be higher this year based on this increased valuation; some properties are now worth more and property taxes are also higher. Much of this is beyond any of our control, but as a property owner, you are ultimately responsible for your property taxes.

You can help us be more effective. Annually, the Treasurer’s Office receives thousands of tax statements returned for a wrong address; you can help us save taxpayer money and time by letting us know if you change your mailing address. State Statutes are clear that if you don’t receive your statement, it does not preclude your responsibility to pay your property taxes in a timely manner. For those of you that have a mortgage company that is responsible for paying your property taxes, we will still mail you a tax statement for your records as we will always mail the statement to the owner of record by law. For those of you that pay your property taxes yourself, Colorado State Statutes allows payments in two installments or in one lump sum. The first half payment is due February 28th, and the second half is due June 15th. If you pay in one lump sum, it is due on April 30th. Please contact our office with any questions you have. If you don’t receive your tax statement by the end of January, you can go online and print one from larimer.org/treasurer or call us at 970-498-7020.