By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — A legal fight over a short-term rental tax has escalated into a civil war inside the Bernalillo County government — and a Democratic primary battle in the background — pitting top financial officials against each other over millions in tax revenue and allegations of ethical misconduct.
The dispute simmering between County Assessor Damian Lara and County Treasurer Tim Eichenberg boiled over into a lawsuit last month. New court filings and a complaint to the State Ethics Commission on Friday expand the fight from a mere disagreement over roles to open allegations of corruption. Lara alleges Eichenberg illegally reversed the tax classifications of more than 1,000 short-term rental properties — mostly Airbnbs — Lara had classified as commercial properties. Several owners lost a protest over the change but Eichenberg, whose family owns a property tax assessment business he once operated, agreed with those protests and changed the tax bills back to residential anyway.
In real terms, Lara’s reassessment means owners of short-term rentals must pay commercial property tax which is not covered by the 3% cap on residential properties. Those owners should have received bigger tax bills, Lara says, resulting in $1.8 million in new revenue for the County, but Eichenberg unilaterally changed the assessments and sent residential tax bills to those owners…