There have been no refund checks for South Tucson taxpayers in the months since city officials eliminated a secondary property tax that never got the voter approval required under state law.
There are not even any plans for them, and that strikes some of the square-mile city’s residents as unfair.
Now they’re seeking refunds through legal action.
Eight South Tucson property owners filed a claim against Pima County last week, citing an error in the tax rate. They seek refunds for the three years the tax was in place, and not just for themselves, but for all taxpayers affected.
It’s the first step in what the residents’ attorney, Paul Moore of the Phoenix firm Mooney, Wright & Moore, anticipates will be a class-action lawsuit heard in Arizona Tax Court.
Pima County, which collected the tax on behalf of South Tucson, has 60 days to respond. Not responding is considered an admission, and Pima County would have to take corrective action, Moore said.
South Tucson received about $1.8 million through the secondary property tax over the 2011, 2012 and 2013 tax years. The claim demands all that be refunded, in addition to interest and attorneys’ fees.
The same eight residents, represented by Moore, also filed a complaint in the Arizona Tax Court, an Oct. 3 filing shows.
A refund for only one tax year is available through that legal route, should the judge find in the residents’ favor.
The listed defendants are Pima County and the Arizona Department of Revenue, but not South Tucson.
County officials have denied any supervisory responsibility in collecting taxes on behalf of South Tucson. And it’s impossible to refund money not in the coffers, Treasurer Beth Ford said.
Supervisor Ramón Valadez, who represents the South Tucson area, did not return a call for comment Friday.
City Manager Luis Gonzales has lingering questions about who is responsible for oversight and where the money would come from if refunds are ordered.
“It’s just that no one knows what the remedy would be,” he said Friday. “It seems to me someone ought to be reviewing it (tax rates) before they approve it.”
The city’s investigation of how the tax was originally approved has been sent to prosecutors.
