County's home taxes outstrip inflation
But protests lacking as bills spiral
By Tony Davis
Homeowners' property tax bills in
Since the Board of Supervisors last raised the county government property tax rate in 1999, the tax bill on a typical home in most metro-area school districts has risen faster than the 13.5% boost in the Consumer Price Index in that period, according to an Arizona Daily Star analysis.
The increases were generally modest for homes whose value closely matches the average home values in local school districts. While rising faster than 13.5% in all but one of nine major districts, bills rose more than 20% for average homes in only the Vail and Tanque Verde districts.
The increase grows when tax payments for all 234,399 homes on the county tax rolls for the current fiscal year are averaged. The 23% increase in the average tax bill to about $1,699 approached twice that period's inflation rate. The increases leave many homeowners frustrated with county government and their school districts. But others say the taxes are needed to keep up roads, operate county parks and run public schools.
Catalina Foothills residents Sam and Joanne Smiley see both sides of the tax dilemma from their three-bedroom, stucco home near
He said, however, that he wants to "do our share for the upkeep of the schools and city." His wife, having appealed their property value several times, said taxes are rising too quickly, particularly because more people keep moving here and putting more money into the tax rolls.
Their property's value has jumped 31.1% since 1999. Their tax bill has risen 17.5%.
"Everything keeps going up and up. Our money doesn't go up and up," Joanne Smiley said. "We came from
But compared with many communities nationwide facing higher property taxes,
And while the five-member Board of Supervisors' two Republicans say they'll keep pushing for cuts in property tax rates, their chances of success don't appear great.
Republican Supervisor Ann Day said she wants to cut the property tax rate because she sees a "perfect storm" on the horizon of other increased tax rates and government fees. These have been approved or will be discussed to pay for running the sewer system, collecting garbage, building roads, improving bus service, building schools and affordable housing, fighting fires, giving the county control of the library system and combating teen drinking.
But County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry sees little chance of relief unless the Arizona Legislature restores some of the multi-million-dollar budget cuts they've tossed at county governments since 2001. Even then, Huckelberry said, his first priority would be to add sheriff's deputies to patrol a growing population.
East Sider Daniel Grayson, whose post-1999 tax increase on his
"The teachers are complaining about the AIMS test. If the students can't pass an AIMS test, what are the schools doing? They will build a covered garage for school parking, and the next thing you know they'll want valet parking."
North Siders Keith and Mary Jane Leon's tax bill has risen faster than Grayson's - about 18 percent to $1,503 since 1999 - but they're bothered less.
"We would like not to have them, but taxes are a vital part of running the city, state and county," Mary Jane
Her husband, a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, said he didn't realize how high his tax bills are because they're lumped in with his home mortgage payment. He's also figured he can't do much about them.
"I've never appealed my property value. I've thought about it, but never gotten around to doing it."
But to Roy Huerta, 85, property taxes are very high, even though his bill has risen only a shade above the inflation rate -13.8% since 1999 to $1,318 - for his brick- and particle-board home near Orange Grove Road and Camino de la Tierra. He feels the pinch because he lives as a federal retiree, suffered the loss of a leg to a World War II wound, and hasn't had a raise in his pension in more years than he can remember.
"They've got you over a barrel," he said. "I can't do very much except pay up."
David Rich, who owns a three-bedroom house in the
Even then, an increase twice the rate of inflation is a concern, said Rich, a computer software analyst whose wife works as a teacher's aide in the Vail school district.
"It's $60 here and it's $60 there," he said. "If it keeps going like that and I plan on living in this district or in a like house for some time, I could end up getting socked in 15 years."
Sunnyside school district resident William Anstee worries about his tax bill, too, even though it's only risen $40, or barely 4 percent, on his brick house since 1999.
At 74, he's a retired Sears Roebuck and Co. service technician living on a pension and Social Security. He pays $300 a month for prescription medications, in part because he has diabetes, and has had one cancerous kidney removed. Arthritis also makes his joints swell, so he can't be on his feet too long.
But in Marana's
"When we bought a house, we didn't overextend ourselves," said Parezo, a UA American Indian studies professor. "We had one big increase. The rest of the time it's been creeping up. You tend not to notice it creeping up. Frankly, from where we lived before, in
The anti-tax mood in other parts of the country is growing, the Christian Science Monitor reported this month. From
Tax levies across the country are leaving middle-class and senior citizens with less for eating out or home repairs, according to the Monitor. But in
William Heuisler, a longtime property tax critic who ran unsuccessfully for
Mary Schuh, president of the Pima Taxpayers Association, wonders why the outcry isn't larger, particularly since her group draws standing-room-only crowds in the spring for workshops on how to protest one's property value.
"I hate to be the one who says this, but I'm not sure people understand their property taxes," Schuh said. "So many of them pay it in their mortgage. They don't grasp the fact that's where their taxes go up. I say 'Yeah, did the mortgage payment go up?' They say, 'Yeah, but that's because the interest rate went up.'"
Heuisler said the lack of public outrage over rising property taxes was one reason he lost last month to Democrat Bill Staples. Heuisler ran on a platform opposing the assessor's longstanding policy of basing property values - which affect tax bills - on comparable homes' sale prices.
He says that when he talks to individuals, they are very upset about property taxes. But when you talk to them collectively, they don't understand the system and why the Assessor's Office plays such a crucial role.
● Contact reporter Tony Davis at 807-7790 or tdavis@azstarnet.com.
Average property tax
The Star found a home in each school district that matched the average value of a home in that district:
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