Higher property taxes coming in 2011

ABC15
August 18, 2010
Brian Webb

PHOENIX - Homeowners will pay higher property taxes in the fall of 2011. In some cases, much higher.

Part of the spring budget includes different ways of funding school districts across Arizona, shifting $70 million of the responsibility from the state to homeowners.

"These are higher taxes on the middle class because we are not making real changes here. There is no leadership down here," said Democratic Representative Chad Campbell of Phoenix.

The Republican-led congress approved the changes during the last budget.

The hardest hit areas will be the smallest districts in rural areas. The Ash Fork District in northern Arizona will see a hike of $189.68 on a $100,000 home. The Mobile Elementary District south of the Valley will see a $213.32 increase. And the Valentine District in northwest Arizona will see a whopping $338.78 more a year.

In school districts that have higher operating expenses or pay more for educating each child, the local homeowners will pay more.

"It has been extraordinarily inequitable," said Kevin McCarthy of the Arizona Tax Research Association, that helped push through the new legislation. "It's not fair to ask taxpayersr to subsidize expenditures that they have no direct control over."

Activist and tax hawk Lynne Weaver says this is a simple shell game, not real reform.

"There isn't any more money and the schools have to deal with what they have before coming back to us for more money," Weaver said.