Is Bernalillo County Assessor Damian Lara Selling Himself with Taxpayer Dollars?

County Assessor is usually a pretty obscure elected office. Do you know your county assessor’s name without checking? Being that the individual is in charge of assessing and collecting property taxes it is not a great springboard to higher office.

But the current Assessor Damian Lara seems to be trying and he’s not shy about using taxpayer dollars to raise his profile. See the Albuquerque Journal (April 16, 2026) edition below. Along with Lara’s smiling face he touts various property tax exemptions that you may be eligible for. In some billboards and other advertisements around town he always has his photo prominently displayed. Some of them make it seem (they allude, but don’t necessarily state) that Lara is the one responsible for these tax breaks (the Legislature is the one responsible). It may not be illegal for elected officials to display their face and name prominently on taxpayer-funded information, but it is definitely questionable. We are working to find out how much and from what pool of money he has accessed funds for these advertisements.

Even notoriously corrupt former Gov. Bill Richardson had the decency NOT to include his picture on those (GRIP) Governor Richardson Investment Project) road signs back in his day. 

Lara has certainly not been shy about advancing his policy agenda. He just developed a new policy forcing certain owners of AirBnB’s to pay higher taxes.  He’s also imposed higher tax rates on vacant commercial properties as a stick to push for the owner to sell or occupy the property.

You can go to the Assessor’s website which includes an AI chatbot with Lara offering to answer questions. The website includes a link to “Click to see the Assessor’s tax savings programs” which as noted above would lead many readers to believe that HE is the one providing the tax breaks.