At its best it is poor judgment.  At its worst it is corruption in its worst form.  Adams County is back in the news again as it is revealed that Assessor Gil Reyes (D) rewarded donors with hefty reductions of their tax burden.

In a banner leading front page story in Sunday’s Denver Post, we learn that getting a reduction in property taxes is simply a matter of donating to the right person.  As the elected official in charge of the office that sets property values, Reyes reduced the taxable value on more than a dozen properties of his political donors.

The end result was tens of millions of dollars in reduced value costing Adams County taxpayers millions of dollars. 

As the Post reported:

The review of assessments on properties owned by top contributors to Reyes’ campaigns found that his leading donor, a California-based warehouse company, has won reductions in taxable value totaling $23 million on 11 buildings. Those reductions saved the company more than $800,000 in property taxes this year alone.

The assessor’s office reduced values of vacant land owned by other contributors as much as 99 percent. It currently classifies a patch of asphalt and acres of weeds as qualifying for low “agricultural” rates.

And Reyes kept the values of custom homes owned by a leading contributor and his daughter unchanged since 2005, while their immediate neighbor — Colorado Rockies star Todd Helton — saw the taxable value of his house grow almost $350,000.

Of course Reyes insists that there was nothing wrong with what he did and that he didn’t even know that the same people whose property taxes he was lowering were donors.  Instead he says his treasurer handles his campaign finances and he is oblivious.  His treasurer, who also happens to be his girlfriend, has to be heartened by the way Reyes runs her under the bus. 

Are your property taxes too high? Make a check out to Gill Reyes' campaign and you may get a break. (Adams County)

The fact of the matter is that it is highly unlikely Reyes wasn’t aware of tens of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions and where they were coming from.  County races don’t bring in millions of dollars like national races and hefty donations from a company like Majestic Realty Co would certainly be noticed – as would the thousands of other dollars that were deposited from other companies. 

The Democrat was just elected to a second term and ran unopposed.  Gil Reyes has always been well regarded, even by folks on the other side of the aisle which makes this news that much more surprising – and disturbing. 

Then again, given all of the problems with Adams County’s Democrat dominated government, maybe we shouldn’t really be taken aback.  Reyes was simply playing the game like so many other county officials and employees. 

Related: The troubles we have seen – Scandals and mismanagement mark Adams County’s recent past

On the net: Adams County assessor insists politics plays no role in his minimizing donors’ property taxes

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