August 25, 2004 - On Aug. 16, county supervisors across the state set property tax rates for their constituents. In Pima County, the Board of Supervisors did what they've done for the past five years. They kept the primary tax rate at $4, for a combined county property tax rate of almost $5.50 per $100 of assessed value, a slight dip over last year.
Yet the amount of taxes collected continues to rise steadily.
Pima County expects to pull in $220 million in tax levies this year, a figure that's doubled in the last decade. More recently, since the 1999-2000 tax year, both the county's property valuation and levy have risen by 40 percent, while the number of properties in the county increased only 13 percent and its population grew less than 6 percent between 2000 and 2003, according to an estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau.
"In the past five years, the assessor has increased valuations, raising taxes to keep pace with the inflationary housing market," said Bill Heuisler, a Republican candidate for the county assessor. "I bought a new home out here and the county proceeded to increase my valuations over 35 percent."