Home Valuations Rising in Pima County
October 1st, 2007 

 by Associated Press

The Pima County assessor says homeowners can expect to see another year of increasing valuations along with larger tax bills.

For the 2008 tax year, assessor's records show a 17 percent increase in the median assessed full cash valuation countywide over the 2007 tax year.

Those who own property in the Sunnyside, Flowing Wells and Amphitheater school districts will see increases in home valuations closer to 20 percent, the assessor's office said.

This year's tax bills rose by seven percent over last year's bills from a median of $1,581 to $1,693.

The average rate of increase for tax bills from 2003 to 2007 was 5.5 percent.

The Tucson Citizen found that since 2003, single family homeowners in Pima County saw their tax bills increase by nearly 24 percent.

Homeowners living in the Marana and Flowing Wells school districts witnessed increases at rates above the county's at roughly 28 percent.

Across Pima County, full cash value valuations for single-family homes climbed by 51 percent from 2003 to 2007.

Local governments and school districts took advantage of the increase in valuations over the past five years by cutting tax rates while relying on rising valuations to raise cash.

Many taxing districts saw increases in their levies, the amount of money they collected from property taxes, because of new home construction and rising valuations of existing homes, the Citizen reported.