A Question of Value or a Question of Error?
By now, most residents of Maricopa County have received their 2009 Property Valuation form from the Maricopa County Assessor, including me.
Of course, Property Taxes are also affected in this declining market as County Assessor, Keith E. Russell, wrote in the note he included in the letter I received yesterday.
…today we are seeing values decline in almost every neighborhood across the County.
Looking at my 2009 Valuation, Mr. Russell is right, the value of my home went up 67.88% or $167,260.00 between 2006 and 2007. From 2007 to 2008 the value increased another $51,500. By the same token, the Full Cash Value dropped by $67,700.00 on the latest assessment for 2009, to almost the same level of 2007.
Keep in mind that the Full Cash Value (FCV) is used as the basis to compute secondary taxes (bonds, budget overrides, fire districts, flood districts and other limited purpose districts) and is also the tax assessors opinion of what the market value of your property is.
Now lets take a look at the Limited property Value (LPV). This number is a result of a statutory formula mandated by the Arizona State Legislature and is used to compute primary taxes (maintenance and operation of school districts, cities, community college districts, counties). The Limited Property Value cannot exceed the Full Cash Value.
In my case the Limited Property Value increased a mind-boggling $167,260 between 2006 and 2007. From 2007 to 2008 the FCV dropped by $81,207 and increased again by $31,079 on the 2009 property valuation. This is kind of counter intuitive, don’t you think?
Assuming that the property tax rate remains the same as for 2007 and according to my calculations I won’t be enjoying an overall reduction in Property Taxes. I project that my 2008 Taxes will go up by $184.00 and 2009 will be an additional $25.00 on top of the 2008 increase.
Even though the Full Cash Value on my home went down by almost fourteen per cent this time ARS 42-13301 ensures the increase of the Limited Property Value by almost ten percent.
The tax rate based on the assessed value from the Limited Cash Value (primary) is higher (currently 5.7351%) compared to the tax rate (currently 2.2156%) based on the assessed value from the Full Cash Value (secondary), at least this is the way it is in Scottsdale (Tax Area 481400).
Wait a minute!!! Now, as I am writing this post, I just noticed that the Full Cash Value and Limited Cash Value are exactly the same on my “Notice of Valuation†of 2007. Using the calculation method outlined in ARS 42-13301 and comparing them to the amounts on my 2007 valuation, the Limited Cash Value of my property should be a whole lot less, unless I am missing something.
I am not quite sure what to do with this discovery. If this is a matter of improper valuation then I am out of luck, since an appeal has to be filed within 60 days of the notice date. If this is a matter of a correction of an error I might have a shot by filing a Notice of Claim.
So, take a closer look at your own Property Valuation Notice before you forget it.
Let’s see if the Maricopa County Assessor’s Office will be able to maintain my trust.
I’ll be calling them the minute their office opens to find out the answer.
When I got this on Saturday, I felt the same as you. I love the bottom part that they are trying to keep our trust. Its funny how they are so quick to raise the tax, but not so quick to lower it. I will need to re-examine it one more time. There is one thing for sure, we will have a lot of pissed off homeowners calling their treasurer.
The only thing I can trust is that my taxes will continue to go up. You can Trust me on that.
Great Post,
PS, I hope he does not try to sue you over your right to freedom of speech.
I am really amazed!. My full cash value of my property by about 33%. Actually, it probably fell more because it is in Queen Creek and I could not sell it for the full cash value listed. However, my limited property value icreased by over $5000. So how is it that Pinal County can tax my home at a higher rate for primary taxes, when I am losing my shirt and upside down on my home. I want to protest this greedy act of our County Assessor’s Office. We need to cut back. I think they do too.
as the value of your home go’s down your tax’s should go down..what needs to be done is everone needs to pull togather and protest by going to all your nabbors..and get them to sing a patistion agenist the county assessor’s office..
Chris,
Do you know if common area owned by an owners association (Office park development)which has a separate parcel for the common areas (basically just the streets, some landscaping and masonry entrance sign) is assessed at a lower rate than the individual lots in the commercial subdivision?
Something must be done before it is too late. My tax went up from $500+ to more than $1,100, this is more than 100% increase within a year. All of us need to write in to object to the new tax amount. I will be doing it. Just received my tax notice on 19 Sept 08. At least, they will have to work on it to reply me. If everyone does it, they will have to face the extra work for making such an unfair decision. Otherwise, I may be receiving a tax of $2000+ for 2009.
It appears that everyone (including us) is getting their property values lowered in hopes of paying lower property taxes. But the taxes got raised to compensate for this, now when the values go back up the property taxes will be outragous!