2018 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 7 - Taxation
Article 36 - Valuation of Property
Section 7-36-16 - Responsibility of county assessors to determine and maintain current and correct values of property.

A. County assessors shall determine values of property for property taxation purposes in accordance with the Property Tax Code and the regulations, orders, rulings and instructions of the department. Except as limited in Section 7-36-21.2 NMSA 1978, they shall also implement a program of updating property values so that current and correct values of property are maintained and shall have sole responsibility and authority at the county level for property valuation maintenance, subject only to the general supervisory powers of the director.

B. The director shall implement a program of regular evaluation of county assessors' valuation activities with particular emphasis on the maintenance of current and correct values.

C. Upon request of the county assessor, the director may contract with a board of county commissioners for the department to assume all or part of the responsibilities, functions and authority of a county assessor to establish or operate a property valuation maintenance program in the county. The contract shall be in writing and shall include provisions for the sharing of the program costs between the county and the department. The contract must include specific descriptions of the objectives to be reached and the tasks to be performed by the contracting parties. The initial term of any contract authorized under this subsection shall not extend beyond the end of the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which it is executed, but contracts may be renewed for additional one-year periods for succeeding years.

D. The department of finance and administration shall not approve the operating budget of any county in which there is not an adequate allocation of funds to the county assessor for the purpose of fulfilling his responsibilities for property valuation maintenance under this section. If the department of finance and administration questions the adequacy of any allocation of funds for this purpose, it shall consult with the department, the board of county commissioners and the county assessor in making its determination of adequacy.

E. To aid the board of county commissioners in determining whether a county assessor is operating an efficient program of property valuation maintenance and in determining the amount to be allocated to him for this function, the county assessor shall present with his annual budget request a written report setting forth improvements of property added to valuation records during the year, additions of new property to valuation records during the year, increases and decreases of valuation during the year, the relationship of sales prices of property sold to values of the property for property taxation purposes and the current status of the overall property valuation maintenance program in the county. The county assessor shall send a copy of this report to the department.

History: 1953 Comp., § 72-29-6, enacted by Laws 1973, ch. 258, § 18; 2000, ch. 10, § 1.

The 2000 amendment, effective May 17, 2000 inserted "Except as limited in Section 7-36-21.2 NMSA 1978" at the beginning of the second sentence in Subsection A and substituted "shall present" for "must present" in the first sentence in Subsection E.

Reappraisal of all comparable properties in same year not required. — Section 72-2-21.1, (since repealed) 1953 Comp., et seq., did not require that reappraisal of all comparable properties within each county be completed within the same year. In re Miller, 1975-NMCA-116, 88 N.M. 492, 542 P.2d 1182, cert. denied, 89 N.M. 5, 546 P.2d 70, rev'd on other grounds, 1976-NMSC-039, 89 N.M. 547, 555 P.2d 142 (decided under prior law).

Duty of assessor to view property. — It is the duty of the assessor to make a reasonable and diligent effort to view the property in order to see that the property is adequately valued. Bloch Pitt Invs. v. Assessor of Bernalillo Cnty., 86 N.M. 589, 526 P.2d 183 (1974).

Value is a matter of opinion, and, when the law has provided officers upon whom the duty is imposed to make the valuation, it is the opinion of those officers to which the interests of the parties are referred. The court cannot sit in judgment upon their errors, or substitute its own opinion for the conclusions the officers of the law have reached. In re 1971 Assessment of Trinchera Ranch, 1973-NMSC-094, 85 N.M. 557, 514 P.2d 608.

Notice as to amount of taxation is essential due process requirement in the collection of property taxes. In re Miller, 1975-NMCA-116, 88 N.M. 492, 542 P.2d 1182, cert. denied, 89 N.M. 5, 546 P.2d 70.

County property valuation fund. — In creating the county property valuation fund in 7-38-38.1C NMSA 1978, the legislature created a permanent source of additional revenue to assist county assessors in fulfilling their statutory obligations to maintain current and correct values of all property within their jurisdictions, and directed county assessors to use those funds to achieve fair and timely reappraisal programs. The legislation does not impose any restrictions on the use of the funds other than the use be part of a property valuation program presented by the county assessor and approved by the county commission. Robinson v. Board of Comm'rs of the Cty. of Eddy, 2015-NMSC-035.

Where the Eddy county assessor sought to use funds from the county property valuation fund, 7-38-38.1C NMSA 1978, to contract with a private company for technical assistance in locating and valuing oil and gas property within Eddy county, the Eddy county commission was not prohibited from approving a contract with an independent contractor to assist the county assessor in valuing property, because the legislature, in creating the county property valuation fund, made no attempt to restrict an assessor's discretion on the use of the fund and thus intended to leave it to the professional discretion of county assessors to decide how best to achieve the statutory goal of current and correct valuation of all property within the county. Robinson v. Board of Comm'rs of the Cty. of Eddy, 2015-NMSC-035.