The assessor bases value on comparable sales from Jan 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. So, I have friends calling with values going from $7,200,000 to $16,300,000 in Starwood, $3,000,000 to $6,700,000 in Snowmass, $3,900,000 to $9,999,999 off Cemetery Lane in Aspen and the craziest was $10,000,000 to $40,000,000 in Five Trees near the Aspen Highlands.
You can protest this assessed value by going to the assessor's site
CLICK HERE then look at the left side of page and click on COMPARABLE SALES. You put it in your neighborhood and look at the sales the tax assessor office used.
Every comp on our personal home which we built in 1998, was new or remodeled from 2020-2022. So, to me, it was not comparable to compare those properties to my 25 year old home. They received my protest yesterday and will give me a hearing date. BUT, what we really need to do to request a TEMPORARY CREDIT OR REDUCE THE MILL LEVY from the taxing districts below:
These are probably the largest tax grabbers, so I think we call and email and just bombard them. My script is something like this:
“Our property owners in Pitkin County are frantic right now due to our assessed values rising so precipitously, even though we know how important our tax dollars are to your fine and very necessary organization, but I am begging you to consider a temporary abatement, credit or a mill levy abatement. This not only affects the new rich guy, but every working local including the renters. If a landlord’s tax bill doubles you know they will pass it to the local, working tenant. Thank you for listening.”
And, my friend, Commissioner Patti Clapper is proposing to her board this week who oversee all the Pitkin County funds-open space and trials, Human services, library, etc to not only do exactly that, but also request the same from the above list.
Please call me should you have any additional questions and hope to see you this summer!
