TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Pima County Supervisors passed a budget Tuesday and set a tax rate to pay for it. Supervisors want to make it clear they’re not raising taxes but your tax bill could still go up.
Sometimes the main thing you want to know from government is, “What's my tax bill?"
Anyone in politics knows taxes are a touchy matter. But if you want services like roads and law enforcement it usually takes taxes to pay for them.
District 1 Supervisor Rex Scott wants some of the voters who made angry calls to his office to know state law requires the county to announce a tax increase even though it was in just one of the four tax rates the county sets.
The other tax rates are going down so the overall effect is a tax rate drop of thirteen cents per every hundred dollars of your property’s tax value.
So, your tax rate is down, but your bill could still go up. County Administrator Jan Lesher says that’s because property values are rising.
“While you are correct, there is a decrease of thirteen cents in the assessed valuation; because of the increase in the assessed valuation there is an ultimate increase in taxes,” the County Administrator said.
Lesher says property values have zoomed up so much, to have no boost in your tax bottom line, instead of dropping the rate by thirteen cents per hundred dollars in value, The county would have had to drop the rate by 17 cents per hundred.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
