File those federal and state income tax returns by April 15, and don’t forget property taxes, which are due right behind them.
Those must be paid by April 30, unless the mortgage servicer took them out already, or a taxpayer has made a half payment already. In that case, they are due June 15.
Take solace, because homeowners in Colorado carry the third-lowest effective property tax rate of any state, only 0.51 percent versus 1.16 percent nationally, according to a tax survey from ATTOM Data Solution.
But don’t take too much solace. Colorado’s average home price is now fifth highest in the country, resulting in the 21st lowest average property tax bill, not third lowest. The average is $2,241 versus $3,498 nationally.
In New Jersey, the most burdened state, homeowners pay $8,780 on average and in Connecticut, they pay $7,222 on average.
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Of the five Colorado metros included in the survey, Boulder has the highest average property tax bill at $3,506, followed by metro Denver at $2,529, Fort Collins at $1,968, Greely at $1,520 and Colorado Springs at $1,296.
The survey also looked at 20 of the state’s 64 most populated counties. Eagle County homeowners had the highest average property tax bill at $6,022, reflecting an average home price of $1 million. Breckenridge has a similar average home value but a much lower average property tax bill at $3,786.
Two counties had an average property tax bill below $1,000 — Fremont, home to Cañon City, at $756, and Pueblo County at $910.
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ATTOM also tried to get at how much property taxes are rising in each state based on the increase in home prices.
“Property taxes levied on homeowners rose again in 2018 across most of the country,” Todd Teta, chief product officer for ATTOM Data Solutions, said in the report.
Estimating property tax increases is trickier in Colorado. County assessors appraise properties in odd-numbered years, so the payments being made this year are based on valuations made in 2017. And the Gallagher Amendment caps the share of the overall tax burden homeowners carry by shifting more of it onto commercial property owners.
But based on price gains, ATTOM estimates property taxes rose 7 percent last year from the year before in Colorado. And while home price gains slowed in 2018, most homeowners should prepare to write much bigger checks come this time next year.
