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Warehouse Supervisor

Pima County supervisor candidate Joe Higgins says county government is bloated and taxpayers here pay too much. To make his case, he points to other counties he says are comparable in size where taxpayers pay much less.

Two-term incumbent Supervisor Ann Day agrees taxes are too high, but says Higgins' comparisons are useless because the counties he uses for analysis are so different from Pima.

"His charts make zero sense," Day said, referring to a mailer Higgins put out comparing tax rates across counties. "It's ludicrous. It's not even apples and oranges. It's like comparing apples to bread."

Pima County has a larger percentage of its population living in unincorporated areas and using county services than any of the comparison counties and covers a much larger area than most.

Higgins said the differences between the counties underscore his point Pima County is doing something wrong.

He would urge developers to pursue annexation before trying to develop in the county.

But Day said the county has more stringent environmental standards that cannot be enforced if a developer pursues annexation.

An Arizona Daily Star analysis of tax rates and budgets in Higgins' comparison counties indicates that in several cases his numbers are wrong. He either didn't take into account differences in what percentage of a home's value can be taxed, or added in taxes that were not county taxes.

What is certain is Pima County has a larger budget and has more employees than the comparison counties, and collects more in county property taxes, but not necessarily more overall taxes.

The owner of a $200,000 home in Salt Lake County, Utah, would pay $339 a year in property taxes to his county government. In Travis County, surrounding Austin, Texas, he would pay $674. In Bernalillo County, surrounding Albuquerque, $566. Closer to home, in Maricopa County, he would pay just $241.

The owner of that same home in Pima County pays $934.

However, if the homeowner lives in Tucson city limits, he pays a little less than $200 to the city on top of his county tax bill. If he lives in Austin, the owner pays an additional $800, leaving the Texan with a higher tax bill for local services.

Bernalillo and Salt Lake counties don't run court systems. The state takes on that job in New Mexico and Utah, whereas Pima County's Superior and Juvenile Court systems cost more than $50 million a year.

Maricopa County is just 6 percent unincorporated, compared with 36 percent of Pima County. Salt Lake and Travis counties are 17 percent unincorporated.

None of the other counties run wastewater systems. Pima County's sewer system doesn't add to the tax burden, but it does add $129 million to the county's $1.4 billion budget.

Some of the counties also have hospital-district taxes that fund the public-health system and other special districts that aren't included in their tax rates.

Higgins said he tried to be as accurate as possible, but he knows the comparisons aren't perfect. He said Pima County could learn from other counties, perhaps cutting some services and cooperating more with the city.

Also, Salt Lake, Bernalillo and Maricopa counties all have sales taxes that bring in additional revenues. Pima County has no sales tax, and Higgins opposes adding one.

Day initially supported a proposal last year to create a half-cent, countywide sales tax as a way to offer more property-tax relief but later changed her mind because there was no way ensure property taxes would stay down.

Day says she has worked hard to bring down the tax rate in Pima County. She voted no on five of the last eight budgets, and this year she introduced an alternative budget with fellow Republican Ray Carroll that pushed for steeper cuts than proposed by county administrators.

The Republicans on the board believe they created political pressure that led to 5 percent cuts in most county departments, while the Demo-crats say cuts in state shared revenue forced their hand.

"Mr. Higgins' problem is he tries to make me out to be responsible for Pima County and the majority, when I'm there trying to mitigate excess property taxes and spending," said Day, who has been part of a Republican minority her entire time on the board.

Higgins said Day could have and should have pushed harder.

"She was publicly for the half-cent sales tax, then voted no. She voted for the RTA" with its half-cent sales tax for transportation," he said. "Ray (Carroll) seems to come out early and often, and Ann sits back and waits."

Higgins and Day face each other in the Republican primary Sept. 2. The winner will be unopposed in the general election.