This number is down from an average of 31 cents in fiscal year 2010-2011. That 27 cents helps to fund many services our elected officials offer, along with of our administrative services across the county. That means you, the taxpayer, receive services from public safety to the recording of documents for only 27 cents out of each dollar you spend on property taxes. Many of these services are mandated according to the state constitution and state law.
Since 2010, this Board of Supervisors has dropped the property tax rate by five percent. When you look at other counties across Arizona, Pinal County only assesses 74 percent of what it could, according to state law. If we were to assess the maximum allowable, Pinal County could raise the property tax to $5.16 per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation.
This fiscal year we are down to $3.79 per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation.
Some people ask me why we can’t have a tax rate like Maricopa County. To be frank, Maricopa County has the pleasure of having nearly 90 percent of its population living within incorporated entities like Phoenix, Scottsdale, Chandler and Mesa. Many of those cities also have taxes and fees on top of the county assessment, which must be factored into the comparison.
Since Maricopa County does not need to provide many of its services to these communities, they are able to keep their tax rate at $1.24 per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation.
Pinal County is not that lucky. About half of our residents live in unincorporated areas and we are responsible for providing services such as public safety, public works, courts, health care assistance and animal care and control to them.
While we plan to drop the tax rate even more in the future, we must be cognizant that this county has a responsibility to providing a wide variety of services for our 375,000 residents.
For only 27 cents on each property tax dollar, I sincerely feel that we all get a lot for our money here in Pinal County.
