The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors held a special session this week to address residents who were mistakenly overtaxed in a school district east of Nogales.
Earlier this month, the Nogales International newspaper reported the billing issue and found that hundreds of people had received erroneous tax bills last year in Santa Cruz Elementary School District 28.
At Wednesday’s meeting, residents voiced frustration over the billing error and called for stronger safeguards within the County Treasurer’s Office.
“Taxpayers should not have to become investigators or part-time auditors to keep government within constitutional and statutory compliance,” said Alejandro Castaneda, who heads a property owners association that falls within the school district.
Castaneda — who requested Wednesday's meeting, according to the county manager — said residents had been raising the issue for months.
Vanessa Register, another resident within the district, said the tax error was costing her hundreds of dollars per month, expressing concern over how the hiked-up tax rate would affect her mortgage payments.
“It’s impacting me negatively — a lot,” she said.
‘Missing a critical piece’##
County Treasurer Alejandro Paz acknowledged the flawed rates and confirmed Wednesday that 550 properties had been affected.
Each year, the Arizona Department of Revenue pays for a fraction of primary school district taxes throughout the state — a practice that reduces the tax burden for residents. The Treasurer’s Office, Paz said, had failed to apply ADOR’s correct rate in 2025, resulting in the higher property tax bills.
“This is where I was trying to be an overachiever from last year in making sure that our residents receive tax bills in a more timely manner, and started working ahead of it and didn't realize we were still missing a critical piece,” Paz said.
Paz added that residents would be refunded via check, and that the Treasurer’s Office would implement procedural improvements.
“I’m sure you can understand, or at least know, that the office that I stepped in was … not in the best conditions,” he said. “It’s not an excuse for the mistakes that were made.”
Major financial problems gripped the County Treasurer’s Office in previous administrations. In 2024, County Treasurer Liz Gutfahr resigned, later pleading guilty to embezzling about $39 million from local school districts. Gutfahr is now serving a 10-year prison sentence.
