PHOENIX — Fire districts across Maricopa County say they won’t have to cut essential services or raise taxes after the Board of Supervisors approved $14 million in funding to pay the tax bill stemming from a 2016 lawsuit.
“It means the world,” said Arizona Fire & Medical Authority Chief Mark Burdick. “The county Board of Supervisors did a great move to protect public safety service delivery to the citizens of the county.”
Fire districts came to ABC15 with their concerns in June after learning they were on the hook to pay $10 million in property tax refunds after a judge ruled Maricopa County overtaxed some property owners.
It was an error the fire districts didn’t cause, and money fire chiefs said they didn’t have and could have forced them to cut services or shut down fire stations.
“This just came out of nowhere,” Burdick said back in June during a previous interview with ABC15. “It’s our ability to respond, when you need us on your worst day.”
But the conversation changed last week after the Board of Supervisors approved the funding that will help certain taxing districts cover their tax bill stemming from the lawsuit.
The county said $10.1 million will go to fire districts that respond to emergencies. The other $4 million will go to lighting districts and maintenance improvement districts not associated with a city or town, but also impacted by the court decision.
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“The situation that they were thrust into, they didn’t ask for this,” Burdick said. “I was elated, and I want to say we really thank the county Board of Supervisors.”
The Board of Supervisors said funding was only approved for taxing districts with no available source of revenue other than property taxes, and no other governing body to seek assistance.
Court decision at the center of property tax dispute
This all stems from a 2016 lawsuit, Qasimyar v. Maricopa County. A tax court ruled in favor of property owners who sued the county, alleging they were improperly and erroneously assessed when their properties went from a primary resident to a rental or secondary home or vice versa. And therefore, should have seen lower property tax bills because of what’s known as a “change of use.”
The Arizona Court of Appeals upheld the ruling and agreed some property owners were overtaxed, which forced hundreds of thousands of homes to be reassessed and resulted in property tax refunds from 2015 to 2021.
The Maricopa County Assessor and Treasurer both have websites now dedicated to the far-reaching impacts of the court decision.
In all, the county treasurer estimates it will have to pay back $329 million in property tax refunds. Hundreds of millions of dollars all county taxing districts, including school districts, fire districts, cities and towns are on the hook to repay.
The county said 164,000 property owners will receive refunds from that bucket of more than $300 million.
If the Board of Supervisors hadn’t come through with the funding, Burdick said they were days away from having to decide if they were going to raise taxes or cut services to pay the tax bill.
“ABC15, your investigative report. Put this out for everyone to see. And I think if you hadn't have done that, I don't know that we would have been heard,” Burdick said.
In a statement last week, the Board of Supervisors said, “Board members agreed it was important to prioritize funding to fire districts as they are critical to public safety.”
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