Arizona Appeals Court Strikes Down Counties’ Property Tax System

Two Arizona counties violated state law when they calculated property taxes by comparing properties only to other properties in the same neighborhood, a state appeals court ruled Thursday.

Pinal and Yavapai counties’ “neighborhood system” isn’t permitted by state law, which requires property values to be comparable to properties with the same classification throughout the entire county, not by neighborhood, Judge D. Steven Williams wrote for the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One.

The counties used the neighborhood system to value a property after changes had been made that would affect its value. Property owners sued the ...