Maricopa County fire officials sounded the alarm about a month ago about a court ruling that could force them to cut essential services, rely on outdated equipment and close fire stations after a judge ruled the county was overtaxing some property owners.
“This has been a huge failure. It's cost us $6 million,” said Arizona State Fire Medical Corps Chief Mark Burdick. “It's like they're trying to put fire departments out of business.”
The county fire department recently learned that it is behind on tax refunds totaling $10.6 million due to a property tax dispute that the department did not cause.
Fire officials consider raising property taxes
Arizona State Fire Medical Services officials said they are considering raising taxes on all property owners to repay $5.9 million in tax back payments if the county doesn't come up with another solution.
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“We should raise taxes by whatever amount to get this money back,” Burdick said in a previous interview.
Burdick said they have until the end of the month to adopt a budget and so far no other viable solutions have been offered by state lawmakers or the county Board of Supervisors.
The Arizona Department of Fire and Medical Services operates 12 fire stations located primarily in unincorporated areas of the county, primarily serving the senior living communities of Sun City West and Sun Lakes.
If approved, the property tax increase would last for two years.
The Arizona Department of Fire and Medical Services said the average homeowner in Sun City West will have to pay $53.52 a year. Property owners in Sun Lakes will pay an additional $73 in property taxes over two years.
“We ask that you work with us or come up with a workable solution so that we don't inflict this scourge on the citizens that we serve,” Burdick said last month.
A spokesman for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors said they were still in discussions with the fire department, but no formal solution had been announced as of Wednesday.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs recently signed HB 2909, a bill that gives taxing districts many funding options but primarily helps school districts.
Court decision at the heart of property tax dispute
This all stems from a 2016 case, Cashmere v. Maricopa County, in which the Tax Court ruled in favor of property owners who sued the county. The owners argued that their properties were improperly and incorrectly assessed when they were changed from primary residence to rental or second home, or vice versa, and therefore should have had a lower property tax bill because of what's known as a “change of use.”
The Arizona Court of Appeals upheld the ruling, agreeing that some property owners had been overtaxed, which forced a reassessment of hundreds of thousands of homes and led to property tax refunds from 2015 through 2021.
of Maricopa County Assessor and accounting Both now have their own websites The far-reaching impact of the court's decision.
Other fire departments and tax authorities were also affected.
John Flynn, with the Arizona Association of Fire Protection Districts, said other Maricopa County fire districts are also facing tough decisions.
“This is a very serious situation,” Flynn said. “It's going to be devastating to our ability to provide services.”
The county treasurer estimates he will have to repay a total of $329 million in property tax refunds, with hundreds of millions of dollars owed by all of the county's taxing districts, including school districts, fire districts and cities and towns.
The county said 164,000 property owners will receive more than $300 million in refunds.
“This is a situation that arose because of an error made by the county assessor in valuing real estate, residential property,” Flynn said.
Maricopa County Assessor inherits litigation fallout
Maricopa County Assessor Eddie Cook was not on the job at the time the lawsuit was filed. He said he sympathizes with the fire department's concerns but doesn't agree with the judge's decision.
“In my opinion, the county assessor made no mistake in 2016. I think the judge got it wrong,” Cook said last month.
Despite his opinion, Cook acknowledged that the court's decision poses significant challenges for taxing districts, especially those that rely solely on tax revenue, such as fire districts.
“I get it. It's not fair to them. They haven't done anything wrong,” he said. “The county is going to try to help these particular jurisdictions that are going to be hit the hardest.”
But almost a month later, no solution has been found.
Since the court's ruling, state lawmakers have passed bills that effectively overturn the judge's ruling.
“The bill we passed will fix this problem and ensure this never happens again,” Cook said.
But the change in state law is not retroactive and will not change the impact that fire districts must pay back millions of dollars in tax refunds at 8 percent annual interest until they are paid in full, according to an April notice from the county treasurer.
ABC15 will continue to search for answers and possible solutions.
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