Business tax rate increases

Staff writer

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Residential property tax rates in Portales will stay the same for 2014, but non-residential city rates will go up 2.8 percent.

Roosevelt County commissioners on Wednesday approved the new tax rates as part of a special business meeting. The rates are set for 2014, which will be seen in the tax bills that will be mailed no later than Oct. 22, according the Roosevelt County Assessor’s office.

Stevin Floyd, Roosevelt County’s chief deputy assessor, said the rates increased for business owners because Abengoa Bioenergy only had an assessed value of personal business property of $14 million for 2014. Though the place is closed, the property and building is still taxable.

Floyd said Abengoa’s property value was assessed at $23.3 million for 2013.

A city business worth $100,000 will see a $23.71 increase in taxes in 2014.

The assessed value of property equals one-third of the property’s actual value, so the $100,000 business would be an assessed value of $33,000.

Portales’ outside nonresidential property owners also will see an increase of 2.47 percent. That’s because the county’s livestock is down from last year, Floyd said.

Another tax rate that had commissioners asking questions was the lower value of dairy heifers in the county. Floyd told commissioners he was not sure why their value went down, but the commission could ask the New Mexico Property Tax Department.

Dora and Causey increases are due to the school bond they issued this year, Floyd said.

The total assessed property valuation for the county was approximately $345 million — a $5 million increase from last year.

The taxes go to four entities — the state, the county, the city and the school districts.

Here are tax rates from last year and this year, based on dollars per $1,000 assessed value:

2013 2014

Portales inside, residential 25.147 25.147

Portales inside, non-residential 24.630 25.342

Portales outside, residential 22.005 22.117

Portales outside, non-residential 22.182 22.746

Elida inside, residential 16.199 15.845

Elida inside, non-residential 16.604 16.507

Elida outside, residential 14.441 14.105

Elida outside, non-residential 14.630 14.628

Floyd inside, residential 16.186 15.849

Floyd inside, non-residential 16.899 16.391

Floyd outside, residential 14.373 14.060

Floyd outside, non-residential 14.674 14.710

Dora inside, residential 17.952 19.687

Dora inside, non-residential 18.870 20.890

Dora outside, residential 16.417 18.121

Dora outside, non-residential 16.645 18.712

Causey, residential 18.095 19.571

Causey, non-residential 18.870 20.937