County lists overdue property taxes on site

PORTALES — More than 100 Roosevelt County property owners will soon be in the public eye.

County officials are spotlighting them for failing to pay their property taxes.

County Treasurer Layle Sanchez said the accounts in question have all gone unpaid for close to three years, and if they don't make some sort of arrangement to pay before July 2, their properties will be seized by the state and sold in an auction.

Aside from residents losing their properties, the county will lose revenue. Sanchez said that when the state takes control of a property, the state collects penalties from the property owner, rather than the county collecting taxes.

That's why the full list of delinquent accounts is up for all to see on the county's website, according to Sanchez — to tip off property owners to their overdue payments and to keep revenue in the county.

"We base our budget here — a big portion of it — on property tax, and when that property tax doesn't come in, then we don't meet our budget, so then our revenues are messed up, then we cannot supply to our different entities - the schools, the different municipalities," she said.

Making the list public is not meant to shame anyone, Sanchez said, but rather to encourage payment, or in some cases, give friends and family members of deceased or relocated residents a chance to explain the situation.

"If someone has passed or moved away, if some friends or relatives know these people, that's kind of my thing. I just want to do some outreach and see what the community says," she said.

In some cases, people simply don't know about their property taxes, according to Sanchez. She said that in making the initial rounds in the county, she also found many people who procrastinated one too many times.

"Some people, their mail wasn't getting delivered to them. Sometimes we have some Spanish-speaking individuals who don't understand how the property tax works," she said. "Once people understand how it works, it's like, 'Oh, I'm so sorry,' and they come in and take care of their business."

In the case of those properties that taxes don't get paid on, Sanchez said the community can look forward to a sale some time after July 2.

"Some people can get really good buys when they come in to purchase these items that go up for sale, also," she said.

A full list of delinquent properties is available at: http://rooseveltcounty.com/?page_id=850