Valencia County working to correct property taxes

An error that sent Valencia County property tax bills skyrocketing earlier this month seems to be on the way to being corrected.

Shortly after bills went out on Nov. 4, residents began flooding the Valencia County Treasurer’s office with calls. The amounts due for the 2025 tax bill had increased by hundreds of dollars, leaving residents confused and worried.

During an interview Monday, Valencia County Assessor Celia Dittmaier said she made a mistake when she sent the net taxable property values to the state in June, increasing the value of properties in the village of Los Lunas by more than $2 billion.

Dittmaier said she submitted the corrected values to the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department on Nov. 12. Once taxation and revenue approves the rates, they will go to the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration, then a new certificate with the correct mill rates will be sent to the county.

In the meantime, Valencia County Treasurer Ron Saiz said taxpayers are encouraged to pay the first half of their current bill while the county waits for the state to approve the new valuations and corrected bills can be sent out.

“I’m hoping to get that by the end of the week,” Saiz said. “Then we can get with the printers and send out revised tax bills. The goal is to do that no later than Dec. 10.”

That’s the due date for the first half of property taxes, and if people haven’t received new bills by the first week of December, Saiz said they should reach out to the treasurer’s office and “we’ll go from there. If people aren’t able to make their payment by Dec. 10, we will waive all penalties and interest.”

Property owners who have already paid their full bill for 2025 will see that payment reflected on the new bill, Saiz said, and can request a refund for any over payment or leave it as a credit for next year’s tax bill.

For property owners who pay their taxes through an escrow account handled by their mortgage company, the treasurer encouraged them to contact the company to make sure it is aware of the revised bill.

“They will want a copy of the new bill or the adjusted numbers,” he said. “Mortgage companies can contact us for that information if needed. We will work with the mortgage companies as best we can. Our main concern is to get those fixed. Others we can refund or credit internally. We’re doing everything we can.”

Valencia County Manager Jhonathan Aragon said now that the new valuations have been sent to the state, the only thing to do is wait.

“I’m hoping they handle this quickly. Once we get the corrected mill rates, that will be sent over to the treasurer who can reissue the bills,” Aragon said. “As per state statute, the treasurer has the power to send out the corrected bills and doesn’t need commission action.”

The typical process begins with the county assessor, who sends the valuations to taxation and revenue, then DFA sets the mill rates.

“No one said anything was off. When the mill rates come back, they are emailed to me, the county manager, commission chairman and the treasurer. No one said anything was amiss,” Dittmaier said. “I didn’t find anything amiss until I opened my own bill. Should I have caught the number? Yes. So should six or seven other people before the bills went out.”

Saiz said he didn’t receive the rate certificate from DFA.

“As a matter of fact, we noticed the issue when the calls started,” he said. “My chief deputy (Russell Schmidt) called the assessor’s office and they said it was a bond issue that caused the increase. He dug into it and found it was the (mill) rate.”

An email from Rick West, special projects analyst with the New Mexico DFA local government division, was sent to Ron Saiz, along with Aragon, Valencia County Commission Chairman Gerard Saiz and Dittmaier on Aug. 28.

The subject line of the email was “Certificate of Property Tax Rates in Mills TY 2025 — Valencia County.” Attached is a PDF of the 2025 certificate, a guide to the new format and layout of the certificate and a letter addressed to VCC Chairman Saiz.

Aragon said he received the email, but he and the commission were focused on making sure the new half mill levy for the Valencia County Arroyo Flood Control District was included for 2025 to ensure the new agency begins receiving operational funding in 2026.

“We were focused on making sure the mill levy for the flood authority was included and in all honesty, without the previous year numbers to compare to, I’m not sure anything would have looked out of line for me,” he said.

The error on the Nov. 4 tax bills seems to be tied to the new assessed value for properties in the village of Los Lunas, Cecilia Mavrommatis, NMDFA local government division director wrote in a Nov. 6 email to Schmidt.

“... looks like someone accidentally added an extra number. Based on the information provided, yield control is correct and did its job,” she wrote.

The state’s yield control formula caps mill rates when assessed values for properties increase significantly.

According to a screenshot in Mavrommatis’ email showing the certified property values for Valencia County, the base taxable value for properties in Los Lunas was $207,270,228 and the net new taxable value was $2,075,233,100.

Dittmaier said the net new taxable value for the village should have been around $207.5 million, rather than more than $2 billion.

“These values caused property tax rates to skyrocket and yield control stepped in to cap both residential and non-residential at the imposed rate of 11.85 mills. The certified property values don’t make sense.

“But that’s what we were given by (New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department) and presumably approved by your assessor, and the yield control formula acted accordingly here at (New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration),” Mavrommatis wrote. “Upon confirmation from your assessor of the appropriate values, please proceed with making the appropriate corrections at the county level.”

Dittmaier asked taxpayers to please be patient as the county corrects the mistake.

“They are justifiably upset. We’re asking people be patient and let us try to fix it,” she said.