Rio Arriba County Assessor Joaquin Valdez at an interview on Monday at the Los Alamos Daily Post. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com

By CAROL A. CLARK
Los Alamos Daily Post
caclark@ladailypost.com

What drives a person to dedicate more than three decades to public service, lead the Los Alamos County Assessor’s Office, retire, and then step up to transform the Rio Arriba County Assessor’s Office? For Joaquin Valdez, it is a deep-rooted, compassionate commitment to Northern New Mexico.

“I love serving my community,” Valdez said during an interview Monday at the Los Alamos Daily Post. “It’s about making government work better for the people who call this place home.”

Valdez explained that he is running for re-election for Rio Arriba County Assessor to continue the progress of transforming Rio Arriba County into a place where residents can live, work, and play.

“I followed through on the commitments I set forth in my first term, and I remain committed to serving you and providing you the best possible service while complying with our state statutes, laws, regulations, and orders,“ he said. “I will provide an office characterized by transparency, integrity, and equality, where everyone contributes their fair share of the property tax burden. I will always serve our county, communities and constituents with honesty and accountability and I will always advocate for fairness and equality.”

Born and raised in the small town of Canjilon, N.M., Valdez, 53, has deep roots in Northern New Mexico. With an extensive 34-year career in property valuation, he has served various governments, including Los Alamos, Taos, San Miguel, Socorro, and Rio Arriba counties. Beyond his professional career, Valdez said he is deeply committed to the cultural fabric of the region, actively involved in land grants and acequias, while also operating a small business in Cebolla.

After being elected to the Rio Arriba County Assessor position in 2022, Valdez has spent the last three plus years spearheading significant modernization efforts. He transformed the Assessor’s office by replacing outdated technology with modern solutions. Notably, he eliminated the use of AutoCAD in favor of a full implementation of ArcGIS. This improvement has significantly enhanced the efficiency and functionality of operations, providing a more user-friendly, clean product for citizens.

Under his leadership, the public now has access to a new, comprehensive website designed in cooperation with county management. This tool allows residents to easily research property information, including owner names, addresses, parcel numbers, and toggle searches. The platform also provides critical, easy-to-access data on fire districts, roads, congressional districts, commission districts, precincts, and school districts.

With more than three years of demonstrated progress and modernization behind him, Valdez is seeking a second term as the Rio Arriba County Assessor. He brings a unique combination of deep local roots, vast professional experience, and a genuine passion for public service to the table.

“We’ve made tremendous progress,” Valdez said, asking for the continued support and endorsement of the community to build upon this foundation, adding that he is dedicated to enhancing transparency, efficiency, and service for all residents of Rio Arriba County.

The progress accomplished within the office under Valdez’s leadership includes:

• ArcGIS – eliminated the use of AutoCAD and implemented a full version of ArcGIS. Improved
efficiency, effectiveness and functionality of the operations. Able to provide a cleaner, user-
friendly product to our users. Provided more useful information to the public where they can
conduct research by owner name, address, parcel number, toggle search, etc. They can acquire
information such as fire districts, roads, addresses, congressional districts, commission districts,
precincts, school districts, etc.

• Website – in cooperation with county management, launched a new website.

• Transparency – provide a variety of information useful to the public, such as but not limited to, valuation comparison from one year to the next, revenues generated through the property
tax, tax rate comparison, and federal revenue sources available to Rio Arriba County. Also provide links for additional resources of federal government funding and an area of upcoming events and a property information center.

• Forms – all forms for Exemptions, Tax Payer Benefits, Special Methods of Valuation, Limitation on Valuation of Residential property owners 65 years of age or older or disabled, business personal property rendition forms, livestock forms, etc., are fillable and available online.

• IT Technology and Infrastructure – in cooperation with county management, upgraded IT Infrastructure essential to operations. Replaced old servers, some that were over a decade old and not capable of handling the current data load capacity.

• Acquired aerial and oblique imagery of populated and congested areas of the county to assist with the operations of the office and to provide the ability to adhere to statutory requirements. The county entered into contract with EagleView in 2023 for a 10-year project where new images will be provided every two years. The service was first acquired by use of the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding received by the county of which the services were one of the essential uses for the fund. The county received approximately $7.5 million in revenue and has provided funding for the first two phases of the project. An additional $160,000 has been granted through ICIP funding through Sen. Leo Jaramillo.

• The service has assisted in discovering approximately $170 million of additional net taxable valuation and $5.7 million in additional revenue for the state, county, schools, college, soil water conservation and watershed districts.