Valencia County residents still question corrected property tax bills
A county typo that put property values in the billions, not millions, left Valencia County homeowners doubting their corrected tax bills and seeking answers.
Valencia County homeowners were still questioning their property tax bills after county officials said the error had been corrected, keeping a basic government function under a cloud of distrust. The mix-up hit households directly: property values were entered in the billions instead of millions, and a separate typo nearly doubled the tax rate before it was fixed.
The problem mattered because the wrong numbers changed what residents were told to pay, turning ordinary tax notices into a budget problem for families trying to protect their homes from penalties or confusion over what they actually owed. In a county where property taxes help fund local government and affect affordability, even a paperwork mistake can mean extra time spent checking records, comparing notices, and waiting for a clear answer from officials.
Valencia County said it corrected the property tax error, but the revised bills did not settle the dispute. Residents continued to question whether the updated notices were accurate enough to trust, a sign that the underlying records or the explanation for the mistake had not fully satisfied them. The county assessor’s office had already been linked to the original error that sent values soaring from millions to billions, and the scale of the mistake fueled the backlash.
To deal with the fallout, the Valencia County Treasurer’s Office said it would be open Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to answer questions and provide help. The office says its mission is to provide timely, efficient and professional service to constituents, a standard now being tested by the public response to the tax bills.
The complaints underscored how quickly confidence can erode when a county gets a core billing process wrong. Even after corrected notices went out, homeowners still wanted proof that the system was accurate, that no one would be hit with late fees or other consequences because of the county’s mistake, and that the next bill would match the value of the home on the parcel record.
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