Assessor: Little change in county property tax rates

Most property owners likely to experience decrease in bill.

Property owners should see little change in their 2023 county taxes, and most will experience a decrease in that bill, reported the assessor during the Quay County Commission meeting Monday.

The commission as a formality approved county tax rates that are set by the state. Assessor Dana Leonard said the county has little say in rates, though it can dispute them if local officials think there is an error.

Leonard said local rates will be “very similar” to last year’s, and most property owners will see a slight decrease.

Leonard said he did a random check of four properties with 2023 rates. He said based on that data, the average bill will decline $11.

Leonard said he would have presented a more detailed explanation of 2023 property tax rates during Monday’s meeting. However, he contracted COVID-19 last week and was unable to finish it.

He said he would make that presentation during the commission’s next meeting on Oct. 9.

In other business:

— County Treasurer Patsy Gresham reported all properties — totaling more than 100 — were sold during a delinquent tax-sale auction on Sept. 19.

A total of 48 parties made bids. The original list contained 138 properties, but taxes on 28 tracts were paid shortly before the auction and removed from the list.

Gresham said previous tax-sale auctions resulted only about 25 sales.

She said if a minimum bid wasn’t met, the tract was reoffered with a lower minimum. Some of those tracts had been delinquent for more than 12 years.

Gresham said the county probably won’t net much money from the sale, but she said it was good those properties were removed from the delinquent rolls.

“Being able to start over is efficient to the county,” she said. “It will be good for the city and the county.”

Gresham noted the new owner of a long-closed motel near the Golden Dragon restaurant in Tucumcari already has started cleaning up the property.

County manager Daniel Zamora also said selling long-neglected properties was a good thing.

“Half of zero is still zero,” he said of the reofferings. “We weren’t giving anything up, really.”

Gresham said two delinquent properties — the former Hardee’s building and closed Tucumcari Truck Terminal — were removed from the auction list before it started.

She said the new owner of the Hardee’s is converting it into an American Legion building and is making an arrangement to pay the back taxes. The truck stop, Gresham said, is about to undergo a brownfields cleanup for fuel leakage.

— Commissioners approved state capital outlay appropriations of $300,000 for radio equipment and internet technology for the county’s 911 emergency dispatch system and $75,000 to renovate the Quay County Fairgrounds concession stand.

— The commission approved a request for a match waiver of $17,086.65 for rebuilding Quay Road 63. Commissioners also approved a capital appropriation project amendment where the county will report quarterly on the progress of state-funded projects.

— At the start of the meeting, the commission recognized finance director Cheryl Simpson, who is retiring shortly after the meeting. Simpson had been employed by the county for 14 years.

Zamora said administrative assistant Samantha Salas will take over Simpson’s duties, leaving an opening for Salas’ position.

— During public comments, Louis Brown recommended a 1933 bridge on Old Route 66 be repaired and reopened temporarily while the county works out details on repairing a low water crossing that was destroyed by flash flooding in May.

“We really need to to open the old bridge until we get the new one fixed,” Brown said. “Closing the road isn’t an option.”

Brown, who lives near the bridge, said he worked for the county road department for 29 years and had helped build nine low water crossings, with eight still in service. He said the low water bridge on Old Route 66 lacked enough concrete on both sides to withstand the high water.

— Zamora again reported “strong” gross receipts tax revenue in the latest monthly report, including retail being up 100% from recent years. He attributed some of that to a recent state law that moves internet sales tax back to the transaction’s county of origin.

Zamora also said the county received a $600,000 equalization windfall due to the state redistributing tax money to smaller counties.