Several homes in Socorro County have not been on the tax rolls for 20, 30 years

The total combined taxable values for 2024 reached over three hundred million, Julie Griego, county assessor, announced at the Socorro County meeting last week.

“In 2013, our taxable value was 240 million and now we’re at 360 million,” Griego said “I can’t tell you how many houses we picked up that had never been on the roll that have been out there for 20 to 30 years and never paid taxes on it. That’s what we’ve been doing for the last ten years because of all the issues we’ve had with computers and all that stuff.”

She said they have started on reappraisals, which have to be done every four years. She predicted they would gain little value this time around. Their focus will be on commercial properties.

“We’re going to try to finish all the commercial properties this coming year. We’ve probably done maybe one-third of them. A lot of them had never hadn’t been reassessed since like 1997. The value is unreal on some of these commercial buildings.” Griego said.

Griego also reported this November, two amendments to help veterans with their property taxes will be on the ballot: An increased veteran property tax exemption amendment and a disabled veteran property tax exemption amendment.

“One of them is going to be the for the veterans to increase their veterans exemption from $4,000 to $10,000,” Griego said, “That’s going to probably be about $6 million in taxable value that we’re going to lose in this county. Just so you guys are prepared for that.”

The disabled veteran amendment would give discounts in increments based on the veteran’s disability percentage.

“Right now, if you’re 100% disabled, you get 100% off your property tax, but now they’re going to go into increments like 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% discounts on their property all the way up until they reach the 100%.” Griego said.

She said she couldn’t estimate the impact because she doesn’t know the status of veterans in the county. She felt like the veterans deserved it, and if it’s voted for, it would begin next year.

Other business

In other business, Chad Whitson was sworn in by Judge Roscoe Woods to the office as a deputy sheriff. The commission approved Sheriff Armijo’s request to update the policy to expand the radius of miles that sheriff’s vehicles were approved to take home. He said it would accommodate deputies that live outside the county and expand recruitment.

The Knights of Columbus, Deacon Nick Kellar, Marty Chavez and Dan Padilla recognized the RISE program and the county road department with certificates of appreciation.

“All three of us would like to talk about the great work that the inmates have Socorro Detention, along with our staff members, have done in cleaning up and improving a number of the cemeteries in our county,” Deacon Kellar said. “I’ve worked alongside inmates for four days, and I can tell you it’s been a true joy, as well as the great support staff that has been out there with us. Everyone has done an outstanding job, and we’d like to recognize the RISE program for the great work that they do in our community,”

The county road director, Art Gonzales was thanked for the road department’s contributions to the cemetery.

“They’ve got a bunch of material out there for us and kind of filled in some areas that had been washed out over the last 75 years. And as a result of that, I think it’s kind of created about at least anywhere from 60 to 75 new gravesite areas as a result of the work and contributions that the road department has done. With that being said, Arthur, thank you so much, and we hope that you guys will display this proudly,” Dan Padilla said.

Approval of legislative appropriation was passed with $300,000 for a detention center recreation yard, $725,000 for Escondida Lake Park and $250,000 for Courthouse improvements.

The board also voted to fund the Magdalena Senior Center $12,000 of the $15,00 Mayor Richard Rumpf requested.

The next meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. on July 23 at the county annex.