TUCSON, AZ (August 19, 2025) -- From the desk of County Administrator, Jan Lesher: Every year in the middle of August, the Board of Supervisors meets on a Monday to pass the tax levies for all the taxing jurisdictions of the County. It’s usually the only time the Board meets on a Monday, and it’s to comply with a statutory deadline. Adopting the tax levies is the last step in the annual budget process.
While the Board in June adopts the annual budget and sets the rates for County property taxes to fund the budget (and the tax rates of the various facility improvement districts in the County), the levy sets the amount of money that needs to be collected to meet the budget.
But state law also requires the Board to adopt the levies for all the other property-taxing jurisdictions in the County, the fire districts, the school districts, and the community college district. The elected bodies of those jurisdictions likewise set their budgets and tax rates in June.
Just like approving the election canvass, the Board doesn’t have much leeway – it must adopt the levies for the taxes to be imposed and collected.
Whenever the Board takes action on the County property tax, there is sometimes commentary about how the Pima County total tax rate compares to other counties in the state. It’s important to know that each county has a different total assessed valuation upon which to impose the levies, for instance ours is $11.8 billion while Maricopa County’s is about $60 billion, which means Maricopa can raise much more money than Pima at a much lower rate because of the difference in valuation; and each county has other taxes that are used to offset the property tax, such as jail and hospital district taxes, and sales taxes. Pima County has none of those extra taxes, just the property tax.
Yet Pima County’s tax rate should be considered conservative. The increase for this year is almost entirely due to the state legislature avoiding its obligations and passing on its costs to counties to fund with local dollars. This year’s tax rate remains more than 30 cents lower than before the pandemic, indicating we’re meeting our constituents' needs with funds from total assessed valuations, without increasing the tax rate for operations.