“The recovery has not happened yet in Arapahoe County.”

That’s the news Corbin Sakdol, Arapahoe County assessor, gave officials from throughout the 348 taxing entities in the county on April 18. Having just finished reassessing property values, he has a pretty good handle on the situation.

Although sales are up in most places, values of the 150,000 single-family homes in the county are generally down but with a few bright spots.

Centennial and Greenwood Village are up. Aurora, Sheridan and Englewood are down, and Littleton is split.

“Ridge Road is still quite the dividing line,” he said. Homes south of Ridge Road are mostly maintaining or climbing, while the north isn’t in such great shape.

Sakdol says condominium values are way down across the board, but office buildings and commercial properties are up.

Foreclosures are down from the peak in 2008.

“It’s happening, but it’s not near as bad,” he said. “Things are much better, but they’re still not good.”

One reason there’s discrepancy between rising sales and falling values is that Colorado law requires Sakdol to use 2-year-old sales data to determine current taxable value. The tax bill property owners will be getting in the mail starting May 1 reflects sales that occurred between July 1, 2010, and June 30, 2012.

So as home prices started crashing during the housing bubble of August 2008, property taxes reflected July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007. Conversely, as sales are now beginning to increase, taxable values remain low.

Those 348 taxing entities can significantly impact property owners’ tax bills, as well. Similar homes in similar neighborhoods might be valued about the same and still have vastly different property-tax bills. It depends on voter-approved mill levies collected by the school district or water entity, for example.

Sakdol also points out that, in Colorado, commercial properties are taxed at a rate of 29 percent, while it’s just under 8 percent for residential. (Keep that in mind when considering converting a cute bungalow to a charming coffee shop, he notes.) The Gallagher Amendment intended to maintain a 55/45 split between commercial and residential property taxes, so it ratcheted down what homeowners were paying as the economy worsened. However, TABOR says it can’t go back up without a vote of the people, so it remains skewed.

Sakdol reminds property owners they only have until the end of May to appeal their tax bill, and urges them not to pay anybody to do it for them.

“We’re really easy to get along with,” he said. “Come and talk to us for free.”