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September 13, 2011

Coconino County

Notice of Potential Fee Increases

A user fee service is one in which the applicant (personal, business, organizational) receives a benefit that does not accrue to non applicants. The underlying philosophy is that someone who receives a special service from which he/she will benefit (especially monetarily) should pay all, or a portion of, the full cost of that service unless otherwise decided.

No. Coconino County evaluates the cost of all services every other year, and uses that cost analysis to recommend fee increases and decreases. Our policy is to recommend regular changes to our fee schedule, in order to avoid large increases in any given year while maintaining our cost recovery percentages. This creates routing incremental fee changes that are easier to absorb than increases that are not done as frequently and are thus more significant. The cost of some fees increased since the last study, and others decreased due to technology and efficiencies in service delivery. Many fees are adopted the full cost, with a sliding fee scale applied based on ability to pay. For fees that have a community benefit, the Board of Supervisors subsidizes a portion of the cost of the services with County tax dollars.

In total about 11% of all County revenues come from charges for services, licenses, permits, fees, fines, or forfeits.

No. Each year Coconino County studies approximately ½ of all user fee services. The current schedule includes fees that are charged by the Adult Probation, the Board of Supervisors, Clerk of Superior Court, Community Development, Constable, County Attorney, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology (GIS), Justice Courts, Public Defender, Recorder (Elections), Sheriff, and Superior Court. Select Public Health Services District and Community Services fees were also considered. All other department fees will be included in next year’s study. The net effect is that each fee is studied every two years.

Please note, the recommended fee is the current staff recommendation. The Board of Supervisors may elect to adopt up to the full cost that is listed for each fee. Fees that are set by Statute are included in bold.

See the fees here

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September 1, 2011

Prop 13 Arizona

Prop 13 Arizona limits property taxes

leaves plenty of decisions to the Legislature and voters

Prop 13 Arizona doesn't tie the Legislature's hands. It sets an upper boundary on taxation which aligns nicely with the upper boundary each of us has on our ability to pay. No matter how good the cause or how great the idea, we each only have so much money to spend. Government should be the same.

When you read the actual initiative text, you'll see the tax rate "shall not exceed" 0.5% for all residential property and 1.0% for all other real property. Prop 13 Arizona does not set the rate, just the maximum. The Legislature can set a lower tax rate on any class of property it wishes just as it currently can do.

www.Prop13Arizona.com 

With our current property tax system, whenever a group or individual gets a special reduction in their property taxes, the taxing districts suffer no loss of revenue. Other property owners see their "share" of the tax bill increase to make up for it. Its like 4 people having lunch together and one decides not to pay their bill. The lunch bill remains the same and the other 3 each have to pay more.

Prop 13 Arizona allows taxing districts to bestow favors, just as they always have, but they come at the taxing district's expense, not the taxpayers.

Currently, special tax rates for various classes of property are found in Arizona Revised Statute. Rates that are less than the tax caps established in Prop 13 Arizona would remain in effect unless the Legislature votes to change them.

Voters can still decide how property tax revenue should be spent. They can vote for or against any proposed project or program. They just can't vote to raise taxes on everyone like they can now.