THE Department of Revenue and Taxation has its work cut out in assessing the value of properties throughout the island. But through the help of a new data system the department has set up, collecting evaluations of properties and collecting taxes from them are going to be easier.

The system is called the Guam Property Assessment System and links DRT with the Department of Land Management and the Department of Public Works.

John Gumataotao, supervisor of DRT’s Property Tax Division, said they have already contracted a company to enter the data into the new system. In the past, they’ve had to go to Land Management, look at 8x11 cards, and log them into the system manually, which was very tedious.

“With this new system we’re entering into our data base, we’re able to bring everything up electronically. The good thing about the system is you can enter a full name or just a partial name and you can already find information,” he said.

The department has an assessment team out on the field conducting surveys, which Gumataotao noted is already about 90 percent done.

Big advance

DRT Director John Camacho agrees with Gumataotao that the new system represents a big advance for the department.

“Now it just gives you the whole history,” he said, adding the new system can also report whether a property has been transferred, sold, or deeded out.

Camacho said they are already in the final stage of Phase I which aims to get all the data into the system. The next phase is for DRT to publish a request for proposal so they can hire a vendor to come in and certify an appraiser to re-appraise all properties on-island.

The last time there was a comprehensive property assessment was way back in 1993. Camacho said the reason why it took so long to assess properties was due to financial constraints.

“One of the major problems is funding. If you go back to 1993, it would cost about $4 to $5 million just to do the appraisal. But with today’s technology, it’s a lot cheaper. Our goal is to be finished this year or next year,” he said.

He said one of the things they now have to do is publish the preliminary listing of those who still owe property taxes on Sept. 1.

“The taxpayers have from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 to file an appeal if the owners believe they were over-assessed or were taxed too high,” Camacho said.

Amount collected

Prior to the June property tax listing, Gumataotao said they sent out a letter in March to owners, informing them they have 90 days to pay or risk losing their properties.

“From March to August, we’ve collected about $196,000 in delinquent taxes which is typically the norm when doing two types of certifications – one by certified mail and the other through the news media,” he said. But if everyone paid up, the amount would go up to about $3 million.

As for collections, he said they’ve generated $16.5 million from January to August, but this will go to the Territorial Educational Facility Fund. A majority of the collections, though, is from 2010 and prior years.

In the recent publication of delinquent properties from 2010, it was stated the delinquent taxes on properties not paid off would be auctioned off. Camacho said that’s an option they are also looking into.

If properties are confiscated, owners do have options. “If the person wants to make good on the property, he actually comes in and pays the delinquent taxes, plus interest and penalties. What we do is we deed it back to the owner,” Camacho said.

Last week, during a budget hearing, Sen. Ben Pangelinan asked about the estimation of property tax assessments.

Camacho said they assessed about $20 to $21 million a year. “So if we anticipate an increase in property values to be about 30 percent, we’re just estimating on generating $7 million of additional taxes.”

Debt ceiling

Camacho said the property tax evaluation would also help the debt ceiling, which GovGuam has almost reached.

“A lot of the numbers have shown that the values have gone up compared to the 1993 values,” he said, especially on the commercial assessments.

“When we complete this evaluation and we find a property – for instance, now worth $14 billion from $12 billion – 10 percent of that would be for the debt ceiling of GovGuam. The higher the value of the property, the more debt ceiling you get,” he explained.