Some SaddleBrooke Homeowners may get a Property Tax Rebate Check

In November, 89 taxing districts throughout Pinal county were given a notice that a portion of their budget would be clawed back after a 2023 decision from the Arizona Court of Appeals Division 1 ruled the county’s tax method, which it had been using since the 1980s, was unlawful. The decision was based on taxes collected from 2018 to 2019 and, per the settlement, $350 had to be refunded to each affected parcel, of which there were 4,332, amounting to a refund of more than $1.5 million back to citizens.

Some residents of SaddleBrooke may get checks for $350 in rebate. One resident checked with the Assessor’s office to see if the check was real. It is.

Oracle ESD to lose $21,488.99 as a result of the change to valuation

“We used to do it based on the surrounding property types in that market, but the court instructed us to do it county-wide,” Pinal County Chief Deputy Assessor John Ellinwood said. “As soon as the lawsuit came down, we adopted the procedure of calculating limited property value ratios for properties where something dramatic had changed, we adopted that as the county-wide and proceeded.”

“The lawsuit contended we should not have calculated it based on market area, we should have calculated it county-wide by the property type,” Ellinwood said.

The county has been using the same method of market area valuation for 40 plus years with no problems. The same law firm that brought the Pinal suit, has also successfully sued Yavapai County and Maricopa County. It appears that the firm’s only practice area is suing Arizona Counties for property tax law discrepancies.

The net result is likely to be that tax valuations for more expensive properties, like SaddleBrooke, will have a reduction in their valuation, while areas like Dudleyville might see a slight increase. This change does not affect the resale value of any property.

Of the 89 districts, 21 were school districts with budget cuts generally ranging from a couple thousand dollars to more than $100,000. The school district hit the hardest was Florence Unified, with a cut of more than $170,000. The other affected district types are fire, irrigation, flood, electrical and community facilities districts, to name some. The amount taken from their budget was determined by the affected parcels, amount and value, in the district’s area.

County Treasurer Mike McCord’s office has been busy during December determining which parcels are affected and the amounts to withdraw from certain taxing districts. If you have questions about your property tax bill, you can call  888-431-1311 or tr*******@pi***.gov.  Have your parcel number when calling or emailing.