By Noah Flug | Special to Independent
For the second year in a row, Surprise residents could be looking at paying a lower property tax rate in the next fiscal year.
The city council signaled a desire to lower the primary property tax rate from $0.5693 to $0.5532 per $100 of property value at a work session Feb. 18. The reduction would save residents $4 annually on a home worth $300,000.
Surprise lowered the rate from $0.7591 per $100 of property value for this fiscal year as a compromise when it raised the sales tax to make up a shortfall in state money that comes to cities.
Council will officially vote on the new rate June 17, which would take effect at the beginning of the fiscal year July 1.
Vice Mayor Jack Hastings, who typically votes for any tax or rate cuts for residents, expressed his desire to lower the property tax rate.
“It’s so easy to fall into that trap of thinking it’s our money,” Hastings said. “Oh, you know we’re up here playing God and we’re going to decide who’s going to get what. But really it belongs to the residents, and whether its $4, $40, $400 or $4,000, I think we should try to do our part in giving it back to the residents who pay it honestly.”
The hit to the city budget for the reduction would be about $300,000.
Multiple council members cited price increases as a factor in their decision to lower the property tax rate.
Inflation in the United States rose to 3% in January, the highest in six months. The price of eggs also surged 15.2% nationwide due to an ongoing shortage caused by an avian flu outbreak.
The council is aiming to provide relief to residents affected by these issues amid what District 1 Councilmember Nick Haney described as “some very challenging times.”
“People are hurting,” Haney said. “Costs are rising absolutely, and I do see an opportunity for us to provide some relief for residents with this.”
Not every council member was in favor of lowering the property tax rate.
“I think we need to wait and see what the state Legislature does to us cause every day it seems like they’re doing something else that’s going to cost us money or take money away from us,” District 2 Councilmember Earle Greenberg said.
The Arizona Legislature is reviewing its own budget and considering legislation that may affect the amount of funding Surprise receives. However, Surprise Finance Director Andrea Davis said that it normally takes the state time to phase in new legislation and that “typically you have a year or two to figure it out.”
Despite not knowing how state legislation may affect city funding, Mayor Kevin Sartor spoke in favor of lowering the property tax rate.
“We can’t say what the state legislature is going to do, but I think anytime that we can do even just a little bit for a resident we need to,” Sartor said.
The reduction does not apply to the secondary property tax rate which would remain the same at $0.3880 per $100 of property value and residents pay in combination with the primary property tax rate.
Noah Flug is a student at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
