The owner of a $500,000 commercial property in Bayfield pays a lot more in property taxes than a similar property pays in Durango or Ignacio, County Assessor Craig Larson told members of the Pine River Centennial Rotary Club on April 15, tax day.

The tax on a $500,000 commercial property in Bayfield would be $7,416, versus $4,608 in Durango and $4,306 in Ignacio, Larson said. That's because the cumulative total of mill levies is higher in Bayfield.

In contrast, home owners in Bayfield and Ignacio pay lower taxes than Durango home owners because the homes have lower assessed valuations.

According to a recent county summary of property and sales taxes, Durango's mill levy totals 30.459 for the city, county, school district, and Southwest Water Conservancy. Bayfield's rate totals 48.493 for town, county, school district, fire district, and Southwest Water Conservancy. It doesn't list other tax entities like the library and cemetery districts. It shows Ignacio's total as 27.9592 including town, county, school district, Los Pinos Fire, and Southwest Water.

Notices of new assessed valuations will be mailed on May 1, Larson said. They will reflect what price a property theoretically would have sold for as of June 30, 2014. They will affect property taxes payable in 2016 and 2017.

The old valuations reflect lower housing prices in 2011 and 2012, when there were lots of foreclosures in the Bayfield area, Larson said.

There is a protest period for those who think their new valuation is not warranted.

Larson advised that residential property in Colorado is assessed at 7.96 percent of market value, while other categories of property, including commercial and vacant land, are assessed at 29 percent.

The reason for that is the Gallagher Amendment passed by voters in 1982. It limited residential property taxes to 45 percent of the statewide total. Back then residential properties were assessed at 21 percent. The residential rate has dropped year by year, while everyone else stayed at 29 percent.

Towns want to annex commercial property rather than residential because of the assessment rates, Larson said.

One Rotary member commented that the taxes on her house in Bayfield are lower now than they were in the mid 1980s.

One reason for that, Larson said, has been property taxes paid by the natural gas industry in the county. Coalbed methane development started in 1988.

Natural gas is about 44 percent of the county tax base this year, he said. That's been on a downward trend for several years, and that's likely to continue because of extremely low natural gas prices. Gas production is assessed at 87.5 percent, while gas industry facilities are assessed at 29 percent.

Larson said that despite those assessment rates, total taxes on oil and gas producers are lower in Colorado than in some other states. Colorado's severance tax is lower than in neighboring states, he said.

As tax revenue from natural gas goes down, school districts and other tax entities will have less money to work with. Voters must approve any increase in property tax rates, Larson said.

Around two-thirds of each property tax dollar goes to the local school district, according to Larson's presentation.

"The main reason for property taxes was to fund schools," he said. "In the '70s, some assessors would low-ball their valuations to get more state funding for schools."

Each year, the Assessor's Office puts out an abstract of assessed valuations and property tax rates for every tax entity in the county. It also lists the number of properties and total valuations for the different assessment categories.

The current 2014 abstract reflects 2012 valuations, with total assessed valuation in the county at just over $2 billion. According to Times archives, the high point for assessed valuation was 2009, when the county's total valuation was $3.4 billion. Oil and gas accounted for 60 percent of that. In 2006, oil and gas was 66 percent of the total.

Valuation in Bayfield is listed in the 2014 abstract at $33.49 million, with a town mill levy of 5.950 producing almost $200,000 in town revenue.

Ignacio's assessed valuation is $7.24 million. The 4.107 mill levy brings in almost $30,000.

Durango's valuation is $480 million. Their 2.507 mill levy brings in $1.2 million.

For the towns, sales tax is the largest source of tax revenue.

Some of the highest total tax rates are in subdivisions with services provided by metro districts, usually with no commercial property.