How a Phillips County property tax bill is built

Two similar homes in Phillips County can have different tax bills, and the reason is usually the districts that overlap each one. It helps to see the three parts that build a Colorado property tax bill.

First, the county assessor estimates your property’s actual value. Second, the state sets an assessment rate that turns that value into a smaller “assessed value” used for taxing. Third, every taxing district that covers your parcel adds its mill levy: the county, the school district, the town if you are inside Holyoke or Haxtun, and possibly a fire district or other special district. Add those levies together and apply them to the assessed value, and you get the bill.

This is why an in-town lot and a farm a few miles away can be taxed differently even at similar values. They sit under different combinations of districts. Inside the system, the assessor sets value and the county treasurer collects the money. Those are two different offices.

Rates and levies change year to year, so this note describes the structure, not a current number. To see your parcel’s value and the districts taxing it, use the Phillips County Assessor and the Colorado Division of Property Taxation.