Yuma County taxpayers to see property tax increase

Residents in Yuma County can expect to see a rise in their property taxes as t he county is raising the tax over last year’s levels.

They’re notifying taxpaying residents about the raise through the “Truth in Taxation” hearing that is required by state law.

“The property tax increase was set by the Board of Supervisors and voted on,” Kevin Tunell, Yuma County Communications Director, said.

The Board of Supervisors voted on a two percent increase per household which is a total of $577,613. This year, Tunell said that taxpayers won’t notice much of a difference because the Board of Supervisors also worked to keep secondary taxes low in order to compensate for the property tax increase.

“It really will be for most everybody, the large lion’s share of the community, watch, they won’t notice a difference, they’ll see the rate went up with the property tax but for the secondary it went down,” Tunell added.

The lowered secondary taxes include paying for flood control district rates and a library rate.

The only instance where taxpayers could be paying a bit more is if that added new construction to their household.

“People that have had new construction on their property this year, that can be different. That’s why I say in most cases, lion share cases, it’ll be a wash. But there could be people that installed a pool this year which increased the value of their property… so they may not see the savings that was intended,” said Tunell.

Whether you’re saving money or not, the money does go into many county projects.

“Property tax goes through a variety of things… there’s a lot of things that we up-keep, there’s the health, there’s the road, safety, things of that nature,” added Tunell.

The public is always welcome to talk to the Board of Supervisors. There will be a public meeting focused on the property tax increase.

The meeting is set for Monday, June 18, at 9:00 a.m. at the Yuma County Board of Supervisor’s Auditorium