Lawsuit filed against assessor

The Quay Apartments in Tucumcari last week filed a lawsuit against Quay County Assessor Janie Hoffman, claiming a wrong assessment is causing it to pay thousands of dollars more in taxes.

Quay Apartments LLC at 702 Sunset Road, Tucumcari, filed the complaint Wednesday in the 10th Judicial District Court in Tucumcari.

It states Hoffman classified the apartment complex as nonresidential property and assessed it at a nonresidential tax rate.

Citing state law in the complaint, the Quay Apartments states “‘residential property’ means property consisting of one or more dwellings together with appurtenant structures, the land underlying both the dwellings and the appurtenant structures and a quantity of land reasonably necessary for parking and other uses that facilitate the use of the dwellings and the appurtenant structures.”

The lawsuit states Quay Apartments is a 64-unit apartment complex and should be taxed based on a residential tax rate.

It states Quay Apartments paid $10,192.52 in taxes for the 2020 tax year and that actual taxes should be $7,750.63.

The complaint states Quay Apartments is entitled a refund fo $2,441.89, plus interest.

The lawyer representing Quay Apartments is listed as Douglas S. John of the Frazer Ryan Goldberg & Arnold LLP law firm of Phoenix. An email to John was not returned.

Hoffman said Monday she was unaware of the lawsuit and had no comment. Online court documents indicated she hadn’t been served with the complaint.

An email to the county’s attorney, Warren Frost of Logan, requesting comment went unanswered.