Hi, Gary Edelbrock here, and I'm speaking with Yavapai County Assessor Pam Pearsall, who has some good news for homeowners, and information about your coming Notice of Value.

Affidavit of Owner Occupancy Mailing Postponed

The Assessor's Office will be mailing out the 2013 Notice of Value. It is titled the 2013 Notice of Value because it will be used by the Treasurer's Office to calculate the 2013 property tax bill that you will receive in September 2013. In actuality, it is a current estimate of value with an effective date of 01/01/2012.

We have continued to respond to the real estate market by adjusting property values in a fair and systematic manner. However, I need to remind property owners that while our office has generally calculated reductions in property values, the final tax bill that the Treasurer's Office will send to you (by October 2013) is a product of both the property value and the assigned tax rate. The tax rate is determined by taxing jurisdictions such as fire and school districts and will not be finalized until August 2013.

There is a common misperception that if your valuation increases or decreases your actual tax amount will follow suit. This is a false perception; property taxes may actually increase, even if the assessed value of a property declines.

In addition the "Affidavit of Owner Occupancy" that was scheduled to be mailed this year with the 2013 Notice of Value has been postponed. The Arizona Assessors have an agreement with the leaders of the legislature and the governor's office that allows them to postpone mailing the affidavits until 2013 (known as the 2014 Notice of Value).

Last year, a bill was signed into law that would require residential property owners to declare their properties as primary occupancies to continue to receive this credit. If this affidavit was not received the properties were to default to class # 4 (other).

The idea behind the bill was to make sure that properties not actually occupied by the owners were no longer receiving a tax credit which the legislature decided they wanted to only go to property owners who actually live in the property.

In order to prove a home is a primary residence, the property owner would have to fill out and return the affidavit to the County Assessor's Office.

My main concern was that some residents might not fill out the affidavit. The affidavit may be very burdensome, and according to the current law, if a residential property owner doesn't fill out the affidavit and return it, their property will automatically be reclassified as a "class 4" property (other) and they will lose the tax credit. Losing that tax credit can cause an increase of up to $600 in property taxes. Property owners would then have to go through an appeals process to get their property reclassified properly. This is costly to the county and inconvenient for the property owner.

Yavapai County, has budgeted around $300,000 to hire more staff, postage and bar coding equipment in order to mail, process and handle appeals from the affidavits of primary occupancy. I would like to avoid as much of this expense as possible and would rather postpone mailing the affidavits until the legislature makes a final decision regarding the situation than spend the money and resources and confuse property owners now.

Pamela J. Pearsall
Yavapai County Assessor
928.771.3220
1015 Fair Street
Prescott, AZ 86305