San Juan County officials are banking on roughly $100,000 in interest, penalties and back taxes following a recent crack down on the county’s “current-use” property-tax break programs.

And that’s just for starters, according to Assessor Charles Zalmanek, who said a total of 18 parcels, and nearly a dozen land owners, have already been “affected” financially by removal of their property from various county current-use programs.

“There’s more in the works,” Zalmanek said.

Authorized under state law, current-use programs, such as Farm and Agricultural Land or Designated Forest Land, provide tax breaks for land owners who manage their property in a way that creates a “public benefit”.

When land no longer is managed under the criteria by which a property initially qualified for its lowered assessed value, Zalmanek said that it deserves, by law, to be assessed at its “highest and best” value.

“It’s not about the money or extra revenue for the county,” he said. “It’s about fairness and equitably for the taxpayers of San Juan County.”

Properties that have been removed from the county’s current-use programs include, at this point, six from farm and agriculture, two from designated forest land, and one from timber and one from the open-space category.

Treasurer Jan Sears said the county’s general fund is the sole recipient of the interest and penalties owed by affected property owners by virtue of a recent change in state law.

Still, Sears said the county isn’t the only beneficiary, as the recent removal of those 18 parcels will add nearly $270,000 of revenue into the total property-tax equation that each taxing district, such as fire departments, libraries, ports and cemeteries, receives as part of its slice of the overall property-tax equation.

— Scott Rasmussen