Get Answers: Rising property taxes

property tax bills are angering homeowners. we've been flooded with questions from people who wan...  More »

property tax bills are angering homeowners. we've been flooded with questions from people who want to know why their values and tax bill have gone up -- when home prices are tanking. that's one of the reasons i contacted you guys. this needs to be exposed, as far as i'm concerned, with the market the way it is and the economy the way it is, they're out of control. antoinette antonio has tonight's "got questions, get answers report." housing market goes down -- home values go down -- property taxes go down. it seems like that would be the case -- but it's not. it's killing us, every dollar means everything to us you know... it gets to the point where you start scratching your head why? scott ziebell is unemployed for the first time ever-- and his wife is in the hospital after having a stroke. when he got his property tax bl minute thumbnail 06:06 pm he couldn't believe it. first off -- his value went up 3 percent. on top of that-- the tax rate for his area was also up. "home values are dropping and it just doesn't make any sense whatsoever." but even with the real estate downturn -- your assessed property values can go up county assessor karen montoya says, by law, the assessed value of your home will continue to climb until it catches up to market value. i think it's ridiculous, i mean, our values are going down lou rolla also came to looking for answers about his property tax bill -- he wants to know what he can do since his bill is so much higher than his neighbors. bernalillo county treasurer patrick padilla says if you didn't protest your home value when you received your valuation notice in the the spring -- the only way to fight your tax bill is by taking it to court. they're gonna have to pay their taxes, but they can pay their taxes and file a protest in district minute thumbnail 06:07 pm court but that usually runs into legal fees it's basically telling me that you deal with it and that's the way its gonna be, basically that they're not gonna help me as for the increased tax rates this year -- the county treasurer says the state sets those rates. so far, we have not received a response from the state on what exactly drove the rates up.  « Less