On Wednesday, February 18th at 5pm, the city council will be meeting to cast its final vote on upzoning.  Signup to speak for O-26-2 is here.

There is a very important article you should read about how our own city councilor Fiebelkorn has tried to usurp the city’s process by attempting to help pass legislation at the state level.  Click here.

There is currently State House Bill 103 which seeks to play with the tax code and remove zoning as a means to reassess property taxes, but it has major issues.

Here’s the problems:

• It makes all property valuations based on use alone when zoning codes are necessary to determine assessment.
• By switching to use instead of zoning, there is no unified definition across the state of what constitutes a change in use that could reassess your property.
• If this change creates a loss in tax revenue, it triggers another state law which would raise tax rates and remove the 3% cap to make up the loss in revenue.
• Basing on use leaves interpretation to local municipalities.  This means even with a residential use, allowing for additional permissive uses via zoning changes for  retail, apartments, duplexes, and townhomes then it could be considered a change in use and lead to re-assessment.
• Basing valuation on use alone also creates the potential for incorrect valuation and the potential legal implications for local assessors.
• If there is a zoning change to include  permissive uses, then how can a tax assessor determine the proper valuation if permissive uses increase the value of the property but they might not be the current use?

In Bernalillo county a zoning change is considered a change in use.  So even if House Bill 103 passes, you can still see tax increases if rezoned.

HB-103 muddies the tax law even worse when it comes to zoning and is intended to usurp the current city zoning process underway.

Please email the city council and tell them that Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn has attempted to undermine the city’s legislative process with her support of statewide upzoning.  Also tell your councilors you do not support Upzoning in Albuquerque!

The emails for the city council are:

stelles@cabq.gov
stephenchavez@cabq.gov
joaquinbaca@cabq.gov
bacajoaquin9@gmail.com
namolina@cabq.gov
kpena@cabq.gov
cquezada@cabq.gov
bbassan@cabq.gov
dawnmarie@cabq.gov
danlewis@cabq.gov
galvarez@cabq.gov
nrogers@cabq.gov
district6@cabq.gov
tfiebelkorn@cabq.gov
seanforan@cabq.gov
dchampine@cabq.gov
eromero@cabq.gov
rgrout@cabq.gov
rrmiller@cabq.gov