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Take a look at the most recent updates, events, articles, education opportunities, and open positions in the Colorado Assessors' world.
Stories this Week
Education Resources, Job Opportunities, and Resources
Important Updates for the Colorado Assessors' Community
2026 Media Releases - Correction
A correction to the media releases, regarding personal property protest deadline dates has been made. The date has been corrected to reflect the correct date of June 30th, 2026 per § 39-5-122 (1)(A), C.R.S.
A sample public notice along with sample media releases for 2026 can be found on the Division’s website at: 2026 Media Releases
The notice and media releases may be used as written by filling in the blanks with the appropriate information, or they may be customized to meet your needs. Adjustments have been made for the 2026 statutory dates that fall on a weekend or holiday. The dates for real property are set assuming that the Real Property Notices of Valuation will be mailed on Friday, May 1, 2026. If the notices are mailed earlier than May 1, the date real property protests begin must be adjusted accordingly. Section 39-5-122, C.R.S., states that the assessor will sit to hear real property protests beginning on the first working day after Notices of Valuation are mailed.
All counties have the option to use the alternate protest and appeal procedures. The alternate protest and appeal procedures must be requested by the assessor and approved by the governing body of the county on or before May 1 of each year pursuant to § 39-5- 122.7(1), C.R.S. The alternate protest and appeal procedures extend the time period assessors have to respond to protests. For real property, the deadline is extended from the last regular working day in June to August 17, 2026. For personal property, the deadline is extended from July 10 to August 17, 2026. If a county elects to use the alternate protest and appeal procedures, the dates shown in the Real Property Taxpayer Remedies and Personal Property Taxpayer Remedies media releases must be modified accordingly. Additional information concerning alternate protest period NOVs, is available in the ARL, Volume 2, Chapter 9.
If your county is adopting the alternate protest period, please ensure that you inform Thomas Young at thomas.young@state.co.us at the Division of Property Taxation to ensure you are using the correct deadlines for submitting the county’s abstract files.
Electronic copies of the attached documents in Microsoft Word format are available upon request. Please direct questions regarding the public notice and media releases to Colton Wendorf at (303) 864-7797 or colton.wendorf@state.co.us or Brian Kruesi at (303) 864- 7794 or brian.kruesi@state.co.us.
Ad Valorem License Information
Effective 1/1/2026, to comport with BOREA rule 7.2C, all new licensees are required to have completed an 8-hour course in Valuation Bias and Fair Housing Laws as part of their Qualifying Education prior to the issuance of their initial Ad Valorem license. The Division of Property Taxation is currently working to finalize our offering of the course. There are other approved providers that currently offer this course. If you would like to take this course prior to our offering, that information can be found on the Division of Real Estate’s website at this link or by contacting Education Compliance at DRE directly at Dora_dre_appraisals@state.co.us or (303) 894-2166 and (800) 886-7675.
Should you have any licensing questions that DPT can assist with, please contact Ruth Dane at ruth.dane@dola.state.us or Jennifer Earp at jennifer.earp@dola.state.us.
Avista Hospital v. State Property Tax Administrator BAA Decision
As we presented at the annual law seminar in December, the DPT had a BAA decision pending for a case that involved a psychiatric hospital that wanted to be classified as a residential property.
The BAA’s decision was delivered this week, siding with the DPT’s position that this property was a commercial property and did not qualify in being considered as a mixed-use property.
While a BAA decision does not set a statewide precedent, the Division as well as the Board relied heavily on the opinion from the Court of Appeals recent decision in HCPI/CO Springs Ltd. P'ship v. El Paso Cnty. Bd. of Commissioner. This case does set a statewide precedent.
This decision supports the guidance given in the ARL, Volume 2, Chapter 6, when it comes to classifying special purpose properties, such as rehabilitation hospitals.
If you have any questions, please contact Tony Werckman, tony.werckman@state.co.us, (303) 864-7767.
Calculation of the Effective Tax Rate
For property types that are revalued on an annual basis, including natural resources and possessory interests, the effective tax rate (ETR) used in the income approach should be calculated using the mill levy and assessment rate from the year immediately preceding the assessment date. For example, a commercial possessory interest valued in 2026 would use the mill levy and assessment rate in place for 2025 to calculate the ETR, if applicable.
Clarifying language regarding this was added to Chapter 7, page 7.80, of Assessors’ Reference Library (ARL), Volume 3, and presented and approved at the December meeting of the Statutory Advisory Committee (SAC). Additional revisions to the ARL clarifying the calculation and application of the ETR will be proposed at future SAC meetings including updating example ETR calculations and correcting Addendum 6-K, Coal Leaseholds & Lands Worksheet and Addendum 6-L, Earth & Stone Product Worksheet.
For questions or more information, please contact Michael Krueger at michael.krueger@state.co.us.
December 2025 Updates to the Assessors' Reference Library
The most recent manuals for the Assessors’ Reference Library Volumes 2, 3, and 5 are now available on the Division’s website. Navigate to the “PDF links" button for a downloadable version.
If you have questions please email Lori DeCrow, at lori.decrow@state.co.us, Michael Krueger at michael.krueger@state.co.us or Luke Ott at luke.ott@state.co.us.
Interested Parties Meeting for 2025 Reimbursement Requirements
Assessors are required to report reimbursement data for every local government that had a decrease in total assessed value in real property between the property tax years 2024 and 2025 (§39-3-211(4) C.R.S.). This reporting to the Division of Property Taxation (DPT) must be completed by March 1, 2026.
In order to assist in this work, the DPT has updated the reimbursement spreadsheet to match the statutory requirements.
This meeting will cover the details of filling out the spreadsheet as well as portal data entry requirements.
Similar to last year, you are only required to provide data for local governments that lost value. We will also collect the completed spreadsheets for validation purposes as we have in the past.
Register for this zoom meeting on January 20, 2026, at 1:00PM at the link at the end of the article.
Finally, if a local government asks about the reimbursement, we do recommend that you warn them not to count on receiving any funds. This is due to the fact that the special fund created for reimbursement was depleted with the 2024 reimbursement.
If you have any questions, please contact Tony Werckman, tony.werckman@state.co.us, (303) 864-7767.
New Forms for the Senior and Veteran Exemption and Senior Primary Residence Classification Programs for 2026
We have recently updated the senior and veteran property tax exemption and senior primary residence classification forms and instructions for the 2026 tax year.
Most forms and instruction sheets have been updated to some extent and should be uploaded to your website and distributed to taxpayers for the 2026 tax year.
Starting on 01/05/2026, the files can be found in PDF format on the Division of Property Taxations “Form Index” website.
For Microsoft Word versions of these documents or for any questions, please email either
Brian Kruesi at brian.kruesi@state.co.us or Colton Wendorf at colton.wendorf@state.co.us
Division of Property Taxation Education Opportunities
The Division of Property Taxation's education program is designed for county assessors and employees.
Courses and workshops are designed to review and explain current Colorado property tax law, and present generally accepted appraisal and management techniques useful to the assessor and assessor staff.
Take a look at the Property Taxation Courses & Workshops Calendar.
To make sure you're able to attend a class, please sign up at least three weeks in advance. If you have any questions on the Division’s education calendar, please send an email to dola_dpteducation@state.co.us.
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