The Maricopa County Community College District said it is preparing to sue the county over a dispute over property taxes, potentially forcing it to raise tuition and cut programs.

“It’s certainly not our preferred option,” said board chairwoman Susan Bitter-Smith. “We spent a lot of time getting information and working with the county.”

But when that didn’t work out, Bitter-Smith said Maricopa Community College made a difficult decision.

“We have filed a notice of claim with the county to see if we can resolve this issue,” she said.

The school district is seeking to resolve $45 million in taxes currently owed with interest stemming from a 2016 lawsuit and a property tax error not caused by the school district.

“This is a huge amount for a community college district,” Bitter-Smith said.

A notice of claim is a precursor to litigation, and the county must respond within 60 days before taking further legal action.

Court ruling at the center of property tax dispute

This all stems from the 2016 case Casimir v. Maricopa County. The Tax Court ruled in favor of a property owner who sued the county for unfairly and erroneously appraising the property when it was converted from a primary residence to a rental or secondary residence, and vice versa. Therefore, the so-called “change of use” should have lowered the property tax bill.

The Arizona Court of Appeals upheld the decision, agreeing that some property owners were being overtaxed. This has forced hundreds of thousands of homes to be reassessed, resulting in property tax refunds from 2015 to 2021.

of Maricopa County Assessor and accounting Both now have dedicated websites The far-reaching impact of court decisions.

Property taxes make up the majority of a university district’s taxes. budget.

“Unfortunately, the county did not notify us until after the judgment was rendered and the budget was approved,” Bitter-Smith said.

she said Because the county did not notify MCCCD, the district had little choice, she said, and the county has now begun withdrawing the money owed from the college district’s bank account.

“It’s very frustrating. There was a lot of anxiety and a lot of fear on the part of the board,” she said.

Other fire districts and tax authorities are also affected.

As ABC15 previously reported, it’s not just one taxing district that has to pay out millions of dollars in tax refunds a year.

County treasurers estimate that a total of $329 million in property tax refunds will have to be repaid. Hundreds of millions of dollars from all county taxing districts, including school districts, fire districts, cities and towns, are owed back.

The county said 164,000 property owners will receive more than $300 million in refunds from that bucket.

Impact of lawsuit inherited by Maricopa County Assessor

Maricopa County Assessor Eddie Cook was not in office at the time the lawsuit was filed. He said he sympathizes with the fire district’s concerns but disagrees with the judge’s decision.

“In my opinion, the county assessor did not make any mistakes within the 2016 deadline. I think the judge was wrong in his decision,” Cook said in an interview with ABC15 in June.

Asked whether the county did everything in its power to contest the lawsuit and the judge’s ruling, Cook said:

“I wasn’t here when it happened. I believe we could have done better.”

Despite his opinion, it won’t change the millions of dollars that Maricopa Community College and other taxing districts must pay back.

“Obviously, the last thing we want to do is raise tuition rates. Our goal here is to provide affordable education services to our constituents,” Bitter-Smith said. said.

MCCCD billing notice

MCCCD’s eight-page notice of claim states that the manner in which the county recovers these funds is “fundamentally unfair” and describes “significant frustration resulting from the fraudulent acquisition of county funds.” are.

“We are hopeful that our board and their board can work together to come up with some great answers,” Bitter-Smith said.

ABC15 has reached out to Maricopa County for comment. The county said it would not comment on potential litigation.

Back in August, the Board of Supervisors approved funding to help certain taxing districts cover taxes resulting from litigation.

The county announced $10 million will be donated to fire districts that respond to emergencies. The remaining $4 million will go to lighting districts and maintenance improvement districts not affiliated with cities or towns, which are also affected by the court’s ruling.

The Board of Supervisors said funding was only approved for taxing districts that have no available funding other than property taxes and no other governing bodies to seek assistance from.

Do you have a tip for ABC15 investigators? Email Investigator Jennifer Kovaleski at jennifer.kovaleski@abc15.com.