A class action judgment has concluded that Maricopa County owes taxpayers approximately $333 million in restitution after years of incorrect property classification.

The Maricopa County Community College District said in a notice of claim that its accounts were being improperly and illegally searched by the county treasurer to help pay the bills.

The district says the county can’t force the county to pay interest accrued in a years-long lawsuit, and the treasurer prematurely withdrew about $25 million from the district’s account to pay off property tax returns. It is claimed that

MCCCD attorneys contend that the county’s huge liability was initially caused by inaccurate property classifications that began in 2015, when Paul Petersen was assessor.

He later pleaded guilty to human smuggling in an adoption fraud scheme involving women from the Marshall Islands.

Petersen is scheduled to be released from a federal prison in Oklahoma next July.

Editor’s note: KJZZ is accredited by the Maricopa County Community College District.