Ouray Real Estate and Mining Claims

Commissioners to Discuss Possible Changes to Mining Claim Assessments
by Gus JarvisFeb 04, 2010 | 237 views | 0 | 8 | | OURAY – In keeping with their agenda to regulate residential development on patented mining claims, the Ouray County Commissioners plan to begin discussions in March on the practicality of assessing mining claims differently for tax revenue purposes.

Mining claims in Ouray County are generally assessed at $1,000 per acre as opposed to their true market value. They are still assessed as vacant land at 29 percent, which is the same as privately owned land across the county.

The county has close to 1,360 patented mining claims in private ownership that comprise an approximate 11,000 acres. The average size of the mining claims is approximately seven-and-a-half acres.

During last year’s numerous public hearings on mining claim regulations, several residents expressed concern that owners of mining claims, who may ultimately decide to build residential structures on their land, pay far less in property taxes than owners of private land. When last August the commissioners decided to regulate residential mining claim development by tweaking or expanding the county’s current codes, rather than drafting a whole set of codes dedicated to mining claims, they decided to focus strictly on mining claim assessment as a priority for changes.

At Monday’s regular meeting in Ouray, the commissioners told County Assessor Susie Mayfield that they would like to schedule a work session in March to begin looking at mining claim valuations and the practicality of assessing them differently.

After the board decides whether or not to tweak the county’s visual impacts code and sends a recommendation to the Ouray County Planning Commission, Commissioner Keith Meinert said he would like to dive into mining claim assessments.

Meinert asked his fellow commissioners, “Can I suggest that immediately after we conclude our visual impact work sessions that we schedule that meeting with the assessor as a work session?” He added that he would like Mayfield to educate the board on what all the issues are surrounding possible valuation changes.

Commissioner Heidi Albritton agreed that the board needs all the information it can get before any valuation changes are made. “We are going to want to know about the cost of undertaking an effort like this,” she said, outlying some of the questions she has going into these discussions. “How would something like this impact property owners? How dramatic will it be? How have other counties taken this up?” She continued, “The community is going to be split on this. A good portion wants us to do this in fairness. What does it do for families that have had these properties [for a long time]? Any information you can gather from other assessors will be helpful.”

Once visual impacts recommendation is made, the commissioners agreed they will schedule a work session with Mayfield sometime in March.

The commissioners also discussed their Land Use Code priorities for this year and plan to consider a resolution on those priorities at their next meeting scheduled for Feb. 8 in Ouray.