Supervisors Approve Lowest Property Tax Rate in 28 Years

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors today approved the lowest overall County-controlled combined property tax rate for Maricopa County in 28 years.  The 9.6% reduction is the largest rate reduction since 1981. Both the primary and County-controlled secondary tax rates have been lowered.   

Maricopa County’s primary property tax rate has been cut by 7.48 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.  When combined with the Flood and Library District secondary rates, which also are controlled by the Board of Supervisors, the overall property tax reduction is 13.78 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.  

County Supervisors Demonstrate Leadership with Responsible Property Taxation Policies

By law, the primary property tax levy can increase only 2% each year on existing properties.  Although the secondary property taxes for Flood and Library Districts are not similarly restricted by law, the Supervisors voluntarily lowered those tax rates to off-set potential increases resulting from increased valuations.,

President of the Arizona Tax Research Association, Kevin McCarthy, applauded the Supervisors’ actions: “The seeds of property tax revolts are sown when elected officials demonstrate they cannot be trusted with the extraordinary power granted to them through a valuation-based property tax system.  In contrast, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors deserves great credit for voluntarily reducing their secondary tax rates for special districts in recognition of the sharp increase in values.”

By voluntarily lowering Flood and Library District property tax rates, the Board of Supervisors is demonstrating leadership in protecting property taxpayers. 

County-Controlled Tax Rates Make Up About 15% of an Individual’s Tax Bill

The County-controlled combined property tax rate (the portion of property taxes overseen by the County Board of Supervisors) makes up about 15% of an individual’s tax bill.  Other factors, including increased property values and other property taxes levied by cities, community colleges, and school districts also affect a property owner’s total tax bill.

August 21, 2007 – Phoenix, AZ, In an effort to reduce some of the identity theft anxieties, Maricopa County Recorder, Helen Purcell, is calling a press conference for Tuesday, August 28, 2007 at 10:00am to report on a recently completed project.  The Press Conference will take place at MCTEC (Maricopa County Tabulations and Elections Center) 510 South Third Avenue, Phoenix.

“The first phase of our Program to redact Social Security numbers is now completed and all recorded documents that can be viewed online, some 90,000,000 images, have no visible social security numbers.  This was accomplished through a contract with AmCad, a full service technology service and solutions provider for state and local government agencies.  Although it has not been determined that recorded documents are the main source of ID theft, I felt our office needed to take a proactive stance,” said County Recorder Purcell.

In addition to defining the procedures and the vast number of documents that were redacted Ryan Schoenfeld, Senior Vice President of AmCad will be present to answer questions along with the county recorder.

COUNTY RECORDER’S PRESS CONFERENCE

AUGUST 28, 2007 10:00AM

MCTEC, 510 South Third Avenue (south of the old train station)

Phoenix, AZ