As an architect, Tucsonan David Goff frequently uses the Pima County assessor’s website for work.
When the assessor released new tax valuations last month, Goff decided to visit the website and check his own property.
He was stunned when he saw several photos of his midtown duplex, some with the photographer seemingly peering in through the windows.
“You can see, basically, the Christmas presents in my living room,” he said. “It was shocking.”
The Pima County Assessor’s Office has an obligation to annually value all the properties in the county for taxation purposes, but only a small percentage of those are photographed.
Assessor Bill Staples said photos can be taken for a number of reasons: to verify whether renovations or additions have been made to a home, for example, or if a homeowner is contesting a valuation.
“Most of the time we’ve been invited to a property, there’s an issue,” Staples said.
Goff’s duplex was a rental property when he bought it in 2006. As an owner-occupant, he sought to have the home included among the San Clemente neighborhood historic-designation homes.
Residents can qualify for reduced property taxes if they live in homes in designated historic areas. Rental properties don’t qualify for the reduction, so the assessor’s employees visited to make sure Goff’s home qualified.
“I don’t have a problem with them coming out and taking photos,” Goff said.
The first few photos appeared to be simple street-view images of the front of the house. But as he clicked further, Goff said the photographer appeared to draw nearer and nearer to his house.
The images culminated with a pair of photos taken close up on the front windows of Goff’s duplex, clearly showing the contents of the living room and kitchen.
“I don’t think people need to see that,” Goff said.
Staples said he wasn’t sure why the interior of the house was photographed.
“This is the only time I’ve heard of this,” he said. “Unless the property is under construction, there are no interior photographs taken.”
Goff likely would never have known county officials photographed the property if it weren’t for a lawsuit filed in 2014.
A tax consulting company that helps customers appeal their property tax bills filed the suit seeking information Pima County uses to assess real property. A court ruling earlier this year required the assessor to provide the information, including hundred of thousands of photographs.
In following the judge’s order, Staples said he decided to also put the information on the assessor’s website.
Goff asked the assessor to remove the photos of his home’s interior from the website and the office complied, although the photos do remain public records.
David Cuillier, director of the University of Arizona School of Journalism, whose research focuses on public records, said the issue brings up an interesting question of balancing privacy concerns with the public’s right to know.
“There’s no law requiring Pima County to put any of that on the website,” Cuillier said.
But in doing so, he added, there was no obvious harm done to property owners, particularly if no people were in the photos.
