Eastern Plains
Bent County
Property taxes, marriage licenses, vehicle services, and many public records run through Bent County. Permits and local rules may sit with a town or city instead, so match the office to the exact address.
Official county shortcuts
Take the task to the office that handles it
These links go straight to the official county or regional office shown. Check that page for current documents, hours, appointments, fees, and address-specific instructions. A city may run its own permit office.
Property tax snapshot
Typical property tax in Bent County
The average total mill levy across Bent County was about 68.2 mills for tax year 2023 — below the statewide average of about 81 mills. On a $500,000 home, that comes to roughly $2,198 a year, using Colorado's 2026 residential rules: 7.05% on school mills, and 6.8% on the rest after the local actual-value adjustment.
This is the county average across all tax areas. Your parcel's actual mill levy depends on its exact tax area — a metro or special district can add many mills on top — so confirm the real number with the county assessor.
Sales tax: the state charges 2.9% and Bent County adds 1%, for 3.9% before any city or special district. See Colorado sales tax rates ->
Source: Colorado Division of Property Taxation, 53rd Annual Report (2023) — Average Levies by County.
Incorporated places in this county
These cities and towns touch Bent County. Some cross a county line. Every name opens a direct place page, and selected places include a fuller local guide.
Get to know Bent County
The history, land, and character behind the place.
Water and land
In the lower Arkansas Valley, farm water can be bought and moved away
In Bent County and the rest of the lower Arkansas Valley, irrigation water rights have long been sold to Front Range cities, which changes what a farm property can grow.
Read note ->Water and land
On a Bent County parcel, the house water and the field water are different things
A rural Bent County property may rely on a permitted well for the household and on ditch or canal shares for irrigation, and each follows its own rules and gets confirmed in its own way.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
In winter, bald eagles roost in the trees near Lake Hasty
John Martin Reservoir's mix of open water, prairie, and riverside cottonwoods draws birds year-round, and in winter bald eagles gather to roost in trees near the Lake Hasty area, making the cold months a prime time to watch birds in Bent County.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
The Red Shin Trail loops the quiet side of John Martin Reservoir
The Red Shin Trail at John Martin Reservoir State Park is a named loop below the dam and around Lake Hasty that ties together prairie, wetland, and a Santa Fe Trail marker.
Read note ->Money and taxes (7)
Money and taxes
Bent County's assessor values property, then the treasurer collects
The assessor values and classifies property; the treasurer collects the tax — two offices, so send each question to the right one.
Read note ->Money and taxes
Bent County's assessor does not set the levy
A high tax bill points to value, classification, and your district stack — not the assessor, who sets none of the rates or levies.
Read note ->Home and property (6)
Home and property
Bent County building work starts with the permit application
A rural Bent County address still needs a building permit — start the application at the document center before any work begins.
Read note ->Home and property
Bent County septic work starts with the OWTS application
On unsewered Bent County land, septic work runs through an OWTS application and a septic map filed with the county first.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire (3)
Browse 2 more outdoors and wildfire notesCars and driving (1)
Local rules (3)
Local rules
In Bent County, one town is incorporated and the rest is county ground
Las Animas is the county seat and the only incorporated town in Bent County, so most of the county is unincorporated land where the county sets the local rules.
Read note ->Local rules
A Bent County subdivision exemption is still a process
Splitting land in Bent County runs through a subdivision exemption application, the official path even when the change feels small.
Read note ->History and culture (5)
History and culture
Boggsville sits where the Santa Fe Trail met the river bottom
Boggsville, near Las Animas, is a preserved 1860s settlement on the Santa Fe Trail that helps explain why people first put down roots along the rivers in Bent County.
Read note ->History and culture
Fort Lyon, near Las Animas, is where Kit Carson died
Fort Lyon, east of Las Animas near the mouth of the Purgatoire River, was a frontier army post where Kit Carson died in 1868, and it later became a veterans hospital and a national cemetery.
Read note ->Nearby counties
Other Eastern Plains counties — rules, rates, and districts shift across county lines.