The Maricopa County Treasurer’s Office recently notified the Town of Fountain Hills that it will need to return approximately $143,000 in overpaid secondary property taxes collected between 2015 and 2019.
According to Town Finance Director Paul Soldinger, the overpaid taxes are related to general obligation bonds that the town had used for street paving.
Maricopa County was sued in a case, Qasimyar v. Maricopa County, relating to the way the County Assessor’s Office was classifying the Limited Property Value of properties. An information sheet prepared by the Assessor’s Office states, “In Arizona, the amount of property taxes a resident owes is calculated using the property’s ‘assessed value,’ which relates to the property’s Limited Property Value (“LPV”) and classification. Statutorily, a property’s LPV goes up by no more than 5% each year (Rule A) unless there is a significant change to the property or a ‘change in use.’ If the property’s use has changed from the previous tax year, the LPV is determined by comparing the property to similar properties (Rule B).
