COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — The state’s property owners will have a shorter window than usual to pay their tax bill this winter.
It’s because of a delay in mailing out property tax statements — in a year when tax bills will be the highest ever.
El Paso County Treasurer Chuck Broerman said Wednesday that statements will arrive a few weeks late, coming in mid-February; t’s because of the domino effect of property tax relief from state lawmakers during a special session in November.
That relief meant county assessors’ offices and taxing authorities such as school districts, needed more time to certify their mill levies and process that data.
But the delay in mailing out statements doesn’t come with a delay in paying property tax bills; the first payments are due on February 29th, giving taxpayers roughly two weeks after receiving their statements.
However, Broerman said that taxpayers have options.
“You can make your first half-payment by the end of February, and then your second half-payment in the middle of June, on June 17th,” he explained. “Or, you can make the whole payment in April, at the end of April on the 30th.”
The county treasurer’s website, treasurer@elpasoco.com, offers choices if you don’t want to wait until mid-February for your statement to arrive.
“You can sign up for an electronic statement delivery, and get that information a little bit earlier in February,” Broerman stated. “You can call our office, if you know your schedule or parcel number from last year’s tax bill. As soon as we get that uploaded, you can take a look at it and see what that’s going to be for this year.”
Most property owners already have a sense of how high their bills will be, after seeing their estimated tax statements that came last year.
Because of the tax relief from state lawmakers, and other measures taken by El Paso County commissioners and the Colorado Springs City Council, local property owners will end up paying only around half of the record increase they expected.
And if it’s any consolation, you have an extra day to make that first end-of-February payment, because this is a Leap Year with 29 days in February.
