Barela’s tax bill dies at legislature
February 08, 2010
A tax bill that was expected to help Valencia County begin to recover nearly $6 million in delinquent property taxes is dead at the state legislature, according to Commissioner Pedro Rael, who helped write it.
“It’s not going to make it through this legislature,” Rael said, adding, “They have much bigger fish to fry. To us, it’s a big tax problem, but to the state, it’s a small problem.”
The bill, which hasn’t gotten out of committee, would have shortened the amount of time the government must wait before it can get aggressive in collecting delinquent taxes. Right now the county must wait until the fourth year of a delinquency to take legal steps to collect, and it can only do so through the state.
“It’s a very, very weak system once it goes to Santa Fe. It sort of gets lost in the shuffle,” Rael said.
The bill also would’ve established the “local option,” letting counties pass an ordinance to collect delinquent taxes themselves instead of sending them to the state for collection. Under the bill, anyone who willfully wasn’t paying their taxes would be charged for all the expenses of collection.
With the county’s total budget at $12 million, Rael said bringing in even a portion of the $6 million in delinquent property taxes would help the county support much needed programs and improvements, things like paving roads and possibly constructing additions to the Valencia County Detention Center, which is overcrowded.
“I think we need to look at the bill again for next year,” he said.