Pima County Board of Supervisors at a meeting in early April 2015.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a budget for the next fiscal year.
The budget will increase property taxes by about $17 a year for the average house.
Supervisor Richard Elias said there’s one caveat. That’s whether the county will win a lawsuit claiming a provision of the state budget unconstitutionally requires Pima County to pay some of the Tucson Unified School District’s taxes.
Supervisor Ramón Valadez blamed state legislators for the increase. He said the budget is "not Pima County deciding its own fate, this is the state of Arizona deciding our fate for us.”
Supervisors Ray Carroll and Ally Miller voted against the budget. Miller said increasing property taxes will be a blow to the county's economic prospects. "As [Pima County} increases taxes...businesses are moving out.", she said. "Businesses are not going to come to the county with the highest tax rate and we've seen proof of that by looking at hat's going on in Maricopa County versus Pima County.", said Miller.
The county budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year is around $1.1 billion.
By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.