Park County Commissioners on Wednesday approved signing the County Board of Equalization portion of the county's annual abstract of assessment after hearing an explanation from Assessor Veronica Jones about differences between two versions of the document. The abstract catalogs the county's tax roll and is combined by the Property Tax Administrator into a statewide report.

The action lets the county submit a signed abstract to the Division of Taxation; commissioners voted to approve the CBOE signature after questioning why a version dated Aug. 25 lacked a signature and why a second version dated Sept. 3 showed different CBOE numbers. "The reason that came to place today was because I was informed by the Division of Taxation that, since I did not have a signature for 20 fifth, I needed to get this into them because it was due the 20 fifth," Assessor Veronica Jones said. Jones told the board she first submitted the report on Aug. 20 and resubmitted it on Sept. 3 with a corrected signature line.

Jones said the numerical differences arose because the first abstract used actual values while the second used assessed values and because Colorado now uses different assessment rates for K-12 education and for local government. "If you look at the old 1 and you look at the new 1, there's a difference in the CBOE numbers. And the reason there's a difference in the CBOE numbers is I used the actual value on the first 1 and I used the assessed value on the second 1," Jones said. She also cautioned that assessment rates are not final until November and that future certification changes remain possible.

Commissioners and Jones also discussed how the assessor's office updated valuation models, including adding bedroom and bathroom counts and tightening time adjustments. Jones said staff tested neighborhood models against sales and made fewer post-appeal corrections than in prior cycles: "We tested every single bridal. Not every single model. We've tested every single neighborhood. We pulled every sale that took place." She said time adjustments that had been large during the COVID-era spike were minimal in this cycle.

Commissioner Emer moved to approve the abstract signature for the CBOE adjustments, Commissioner Mitchell seconded, and the motion passed with the board signing the CBOE portion so the county could forward the document to the Division of Taxation. The board's signature covers only the CBOE portion and not substantive changes to the assessor's valuations.

The action is procedural: it certifies that the county Board of Equalization concluded its hearings and that the CBOE adjustments are reflected in the abstract. Jones and commissioners noted remaining uncertainty because assessment rates will be set in November and that property values and assessment-rate changes could alter future certifications.