New tax bills to be mailed soon

New tax bills for Valencia County property owners should be in the mail soon and in taxpayers hands by the end of the month.

After nearly two months of working to correct the tax roll, the new bills are in process and the first half of property taxes is now due on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, Valencia County Treasurer Ron Saiz said.

“They should have the bill this month. This process is something new so hiccups have come along with it,” Saiz said. “Tax time is a lot of work anyway, and with having to create a new tax roll and bills, it’s been twice the amount of work with the same amount of people. We like being here for the taxpayers; most people have been very understanding.”

In November, Valencia County Assessor Celia Dittmaier told the News-Bulletin she entered the incorrect property valuation amount for the village of Los Lunas — setting the residential valuation at more than $2 billion rather than the $200-plus million is should have been.

The incorrect valuations pushed up the county’s operational mill rate by almost double, adding hundreds of dollars to tax bills.

While the correct valuations were submitted to New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department and the corrected mill rates were returned to the county by Nov. 25, since a 2025 tax roll already existed in the county’s software system, it wasn’t accepting a new roll.

Working with the county’s software vendor, Tyler, the new roll was eventually imported and the 2025 tax amounts owed were corrected as of Dec. 11.

A letter from Saiz will be included in the new bills, explaining the 2025 property tax bill has been revised and advising taxpayers how to proceed if they haven’t paid their bill yet or if they already paid the first half or the entire amount for the year.

If a taxpayer hasn’t paid their bill yet, they have until the end of January to do so.

The first half will be backdated to Dec. 10 to prevent any penalties or interest resulting from this mistake...” the letter reads. The second half of the bill is still due on May 10, 2026, the typical due date.

Saiz said the new rates are also in the treasurer’s system and taxpayers can call the office — 505-866-2090 — to confirm the new amount owed.

Taxpayers can also access their new tax information online on the county’s website — co.valencia.nm.us — but interest and penalties are included in the web portal.

“When the printer sends the bills, the penalties and interest won’t be reflected and once that is done, they shouldn’t be reflected in our system,” the treasurer said. “We are backdating payments to Dec. 10.”

If a taxpayer has already paid the first half of their bill, the revised bill will indicate that payment and an adjusted amount for the second half due, which will be lower than the usual balance, the letter from Saiz reads.

Some incorrect bills have already been paid in full, and if that is the case, Saiz said the new bill will reflect a credit on the account, which can be refunded or left as a prepayment for the 2026 tax year.

The treasurer said whether the overpayment is refunded or left as a prepayment is up to the taxpayer.

“Not everyone wants a refund. If someone calls and wants a refund, we get it over to bookkeeping and they start cutting a check,” he said. “Most people when they get the new tax bill and see the overpayment will call. If not, it will sit there as a prepayment.”

The letter going out with the new bills also asks property owners with a mortgaged property to contact their mortgage provider about the corrected bill for guidance from the provider.

On social media, many people have posed the question of whether they will get any potential interest the county earns on the excess amount they have paid on their bills.

Saiz said money collected for property tax bills goes into a non-interest bearing account.

“It’s the county operating fund. It doesn’t earn interest. The money comes in and it’s disbursed monthly to the municipalities, school districts and other agencies,” he said.

An investigation into how the error occurred was authorized by the Valencia County Commission at a special meeting on Nov. 24, and is underway, according to Valencia County Manager Jhonathan Aragon.

“The chief deputy assessor for Cibola County, Jenna Rodriguez, has agreed to do the investigation. I’ve provided her with the documents she requested and she has started,” Aragon told the News-Bulletin earlier this month. “Since it’s an agreement with another government agency, the investigation is being done at no cost to the county.”

The commissioners directed the results of the investigation be released to the public and media as soon as it is completed, with no requirement to come back before the body for approval.