Proposed $1.24B county budget calls for same property tax rates

If the county administrator’s recommended $1.24 billion budget is approved by the Board of Supervisors this summer, homeowners will pay the same combined property tax rate — $5.83 for every $100 of taxable value — as they did this year.

However, they will pay that rate on a tax base that is projected to increase by 3.3 percent next year, due to rising property values and new construction, meaning overall property tax burdens may increase for some.

Last year, the average homeowner — whose property value was estimated to be around $158,400 — would have paid about $924 in total county property taxes. This coming year, that average property’s value is expected to increase to roughly $165,900, spelling a total annual property tax bill rise of roughly $44, according to housing price estimates provided by the county and calculations by the Star.

The levy is expected to bring in $469 million, $15 million more than the current year’s property tax revenues. That figure excludes taxes levied by the numerous other taxing entities in the county, like school and fire districts, whose rates the supervisors do not control. The total recommended budget is $1.24 billion, nearly $11 million more than the current year’s.

The total county tax rate is composed of the four property taxes the supervisors control: the primary, which Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry recommends keeping at $4.29, and three secondary property taxes for the library district, the flood-control district and debt service, currently at 52 cents, 33 cents and 70 cents respectively. All would remain unchanged under the recommended budget.

Huckelberry qualifies his proposal, saying “it is likely the final budget adopted by the state will have impacts on Pima County’s final budget and may change the recommendations made in this memorandum,” according to a bolded section of his April 26 memo to the supervisors.

However, Huckelberry said there is “probably very little chance” of having to change the recommended rate as a result of the Legislature. Increased public safety employee retirement costs stemming from recent court decisions made a tax cut difficult, according to a county release.

As it stands, the current budget contains roughly $86 million in cost shifts from the state to the county, according to the memo.

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Supervisor Sharon Bronson said those shifts — for things like the Arizona Long Term Care System and court system salaries — are “significant in terms of our ability to address local needs.”

Bronson said they also make it difficult to cover the roughly $5.6 million in supplemental budget requests from various departments, the largest of which — $4.8 million — came from the Sheriff’s Department to cover costs associated with pay raises approved in recent years, among other expenses.

Huckelberry recommends denying the Sheriff’s Department’s request in his memo.

Supervisor Ally Miller, who has been a frequent critic of county spending practices, did not return a call seeking comment.

While he said he invites scrutiny of his department’s budget, Sheriff Mark Napier said his department was “thoughtful” about the supplemental request, and would be “disappointed” if it weren’t approved.

The department has recently curtailed a number of expenses, including decreasing supervisory staff and cutting down on overtime, while trying to avoid “impacts to what happens when you call 911 and need a deputy.”

Without the supplement, Napier added, “I just don’t see the room in our base budget to absorb that. We don’t have a lot of room to make additional cuts that won’t impact public safety.”

Budget hearings begin next Tuesday, with justice and law enforcement departments — including the sheriff — up first at 1:30 p.m. The supervisors will approve a final budget June 20 after mandated truth taxation hearings on three of the four supervisor-controlled property taxes.