BY FREDA MIKLIN
GOVERNMENTAL REPORTER
On August 21, Arapahoe County Assessor P.K. Kaiser announced that his office had completed its review of 30,818 requests for property value reconsideration from Arapahoe County residents. That number is 5.7 times the 4,589 appeals the Assessor’s office received in 2021, the last reappraisal year.
In a press release, the Assessor’s Office reminded taxpayers that, “The 2023 valuations were based on a June 30, 2022 level of value and were established using market sales data from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2022.” For those who wonder why those dates are used, the simple answer is, that is what state law prescribes.
The Villager found out from the Assessor that there are 193,953 residential properties in Arapahoe County and the average value, prior to processing the 30,818 appeals received, was $653,681. After those appeals were processed, it was $652,429, a decrease of only 0.2%.
Although the Assessor reported that 23% of those who applied to have their property valuation adjusted received an average 4% reduction in value, that number of successful applicants represents only 3.6% of the total number of residential properties in the county. Stated another way, although nearly six times as many property owners requested reconsideration of their value as in the previous reappraisal year, 84% of all residential property owners did not file an appeal.
As a matter of interest, the Assessor’s Office also shared that those property owners whose appeals saw some level of success appealed because:
- One of the comparable sales used was an outlier that inflated others;
- Information about the property was incorrect;
- Information about one of the comparable properties was incorrect;
- Condition or remodeling information about the property was incorrect;
- Condition or remodeling information about one of the comparable properties was incorrect.
Reasons given for requested revaluations that were not successful included:
- “I couldn’t sell my house for that price;”
- “The value is too high;”
- Sales data provided was for transactions in the wrong period.
Across the metro area, residential property values increased 35% to 45% between June 30, 2020 and June 30, 2022. In Arapahoe County, residential properties increased an average of 42%, commercial properties increased 22%, and multi-family residential properties increased 20%.
Taxpayers who disagree with the Assessor’s determination can appeal to the County Board of Equalization. Those appeals are due by September 15.
fmiklin.villager@gmail.com