Betty Clark-Wine - Teller County Assessor

Are your taxes too high?

betty — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:02:46 +0000

If you think your taxes are too high, you may be right. Please read the article posted under Assessor’s FAQ. Three new articles discuss your 2010 tax statement and the upcoming May 1 Notices of Value. One article discusses the process of valuation, another discusses how property characteristics affect value, and the third article provides information about property classification.

Taxes are your business and, while the Assessor does not set tax rates, the value of your property determines the taxes you pay.

Merry Christmas to All and Thank You!

admin — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 03:11:12 +0000

Merry Christmas to all! And, thank you to those wonderful Teller County residents who answered the call for help to collect toys for our 60 Teller County families with 88 children who needed toys for Christmas. This year the Victor Elks Christmas Basket Program found itself short of toys, especially for the over 11 year old group. Thank you to Donna and her elves, and Adrienne & Tom P, Jim C, Carolyn F, Owen & Shiela D, Tom, Peter L, Mick B, Laura A. and Doloretta B. And many thanks to Debbi e at the Chamber of Commerce who put out the call with Rob from Reliable Electric, Jamie from Charitable Treasures, and others responding. If I missed anyone, my apologies. Your generosity has ensured that those kids will have a nice Christmas. God bless you all and thank you from my heart.

Election results are in!

betty — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 17:19:45 +0000

Many thanks to the citizens of Teller County for your confidence in electing me your next Assessor. I will be working hard for you and ensuring that you are well represented and heard. I will continue to maintain this site with news and updates, as well as noteworthy information. Thank you again!

August 10 Republican Primary Election Results

betty — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 06:11:04 +0000

Thank you Teller County! I am grateful for your support and encouragement and, I’m looking forward to the November election! Results came in late last night and were delayed only because of the RECORD turnout of 56.6% of Republican voters. Teller County voters are active and engaged – way to go! Now, on to taking back our country in November!

(Results: Clark-Wine 2005 votes, King 1608 votes)

Victor Gold Rush Days July 17-18

betty — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 05:11:46 +0000

What a great weekend for escaping the heat – the place to be is Victor at Gold Rush Days! I had the opportunity to visit Victor’s shops and businesses today – so much history, nostalgia, and loads of antiques! I enjoyed visiting with residents who are engaged and concerned about property taxes and the economy, and they will be voting when ballots come out next week. I’ll be back in Victor tomorrow to participate in the parade and see more business owners and residents.

Visiting the Divide Chamber of Commerce

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:59:49 +0000

It was great to visit with members of the Divide Chamber of Commerce at its monthly meeting and observe the planning for many events coming up soon. They are gearing up for their annual Divide Kite Flight on August 28 and are already working on their annual Christmas event. I was pleased to visit with them about the campaign and my plans and, I’m grateful that they allowed me plenty of time to talk about the Assessor’s office, the upcoming re-valuation period, and my background and experience.

Woodland Park Chamber of Commerce Candidates Forum

admin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:56:56 +0000

The Chamber’s Candidates Forum was a huge success and City Council chamber were standing room only. Check out the Assessor candidates face-off at http://www.tellernetcast.com/netcast-tv/archives/special-events/teller-county-candidates-forum-july-12,-2010.aspx , starting at 46:35. The questions posed to the candidates included:

What are your top three priorities? Mine are education, information, and customer service. Not just education of staff (which is a priority), but education of and to the public, since next year is a ‘reset’ (re-valuation) year. Making sure our citizens have the resources, methods and information at hand to protest their valuation is a high priority. I plan to be out and about the community and visiting with homeowner’s associations, business entities, chambers of commerce, and real estate professionals. Providing the proper information, as well as easy access to that information is critical.

How would you handle a 10% budget reduction? I would start with travel and training. I personally paid around $625 for three online appraisal courses to obtain a Registered Appraiser license. The Assessor’s current budget provide for over $2100 travel and training expenses to take these same courses – multiply that times two people, that is a potential reduction of $3000 for those two employees only! And there are more potential reductions for travel and training. I have other ideas, too, but wasn’t given adequate time to discuss those. While the incumbent disagreed with me on training as he felt that online courses result in a high failure rate, he had no suggestions.

Other questions involving the importance of using the income approach for commercial properties, the ‘weighting’ of the various three methods used, and the flexibility of the Assessor were posed.

This event is an excellent way to compare the candidates side-by-side, click here.

Support Betty Clark-Wine For Teller County Assessor

admin — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:39:03 +0000

Republican Lincoln Day Picnic 6/19/2010

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:23:39 +0000

Serving up barbeque beans with Congressman Doug Lanborn and JJ Jamieson (candidate for Teller County Clerk).

Taxes Raised on Local Couple’s Property After Fire Destroyed Home

betty — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 04:57:42 +0000

On April 20, 2010, The Mountain Jackpot featured an article about a Woodland Park couple whose home was destroyed by a fire in Spring 2006. According to the article, the owners’ property tax bill was reduced from $1,729 to $827; however, for the 2007 tax year, their taxes increased to over $4,200!

The Assessor’s representative stated that “their home was destroyed and reported as unusable” which resulted in the property being reclassified as vacant land and that, based on Colorado law, vacant land is assessed at 29% of value, which resulted in the higher valuation and taxes. Improved property is assessed at 7.96%.

The Mountain Jackpot photos of the property indicated that the fire did not leave the property devoid of improvements. The photos show the remaining foundation, and the Assessor’s representative said that the owners were listing their property for $230,000 and touting the fact that it had totally recovered and had a spree of amenities, including “a useable foundation.” The employee said, “You can’t have it both ways. In our opinion, we did classify it correctly.”

But did they? Is a useable foundation an improvement or not?

According to appraisal practices, the foundation is an improvement. While site improvements consist of streets, driveways, sidewalks, curbs, and similar items that make a site more suitable for development, an improvement is a structural component of a building. In valuing a property, an appraiser must, among other things, consider the style, age and condition of existing or incomplete property improvements, as well as describing the features and noting the type of foundation. [1]

So, if a property contains a useable foundation, it is an improved property.

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[1] Williams, Martha R., et al. “How to Use the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report”. 1991.

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[1] Williams, Martha R., et al. “How to Use the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report”. 1991.