Property owners face 17% tax hike in Continental district south of Tucson

Property owners in Continental School District south of Tucson will see a 17% average increase in their school district property taxes when tax bills are mailed out starting Sept. 7, Pima County Treasurer Beth Ford is warning.

The reason is a new law passed by the Arizona Legislature in 2022 that has unintended tax consequences for Continental and four other mostly rural Pima County elementary-only school districts, Ford says in a news release.

“The Legislature was trying to adjust how school districts with high schools are reimbursed by elementary-only school districts when students in the elementary districts start attending high school,” Ford said in the written statement. “Unfortunately, based on the state’s complicated method of funding public schools through property taxes, the law of unintended consequences is causing tax increases in some school districts.”

The Continental district includes large parts of Green Valley and Sahuarita and has about 24,000 taxable properties affected by the new law, which took effect June 30, the news release says.

Altar Valley, Empire, Redington and San Fernando elementary school districts also are affected by the law change, but not to the extent of Continental, Ford said.

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The Legislature did not intend this outcome, Senate President Warren Petersen and Speaker of the House Ben Toma wrote in an Aug. 1 letter to the state’s Property Tax Oversight Commission, according to the Pima County treasurer’s news release.

The letter asked the commission to direct counties not to implement the new law, but while the commission is reviewing the issue, Ford said her office must follow the law and send bills based on the adopted levies.

“The Legislature passed the law, and the governor signed it. Pima County is required to follow it, as unfortunate as that is for the Continental School District taxpayers,” Ford said.

Petersen and Toma, Republicans from Gilbert and Peoria, wrote in their letter that they intend to have the Legislature fix the funding formula next year, she said.