ANNIVERSARY
ANNIVERSARY
THEN: Harrah’s Ak-Chin Hotel and Casino could be seen with a partially built UltraStar entertainment complex in 2012. The entertainment complex broke ground in November 2011, and opened in the following year.
A ‘taxing’ history BY JUSTIN GRIFFIN
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The regional park opened in March 2014. The pool and aquatic center opened Memorial Day that same year. As housing values decreased during the Great Recession, property tax rates increased with the 2014-15 fiscal year at a combined rate of 7.36%. Over the last five years, the rate has dropped four times, with the latest combined rate standing at 4.66% — the lowest since it was 4.57% in the 2010-11 fiscal year when the secondary tax was first collected.
Maricopa voters supported the measure overwhelmingly, voting 578-39 in favor. The city added a secondary property tax in 2010 when it issued a $20 million bond package to construct a regional recreational complex, later named the Copper Sky Multigenerational Center. The development included an eight- lane, 25-yard lap pool with diving boards, leisure pool, water slide, lazy river, splash pad and rock-climbing wall.
ARICOPA’S PROPERTY TAX AS we now know it started in 2006 when residents voted in favor of Proposition 400, a referendum
NOW: Harrah’s Ak-Chin Hotel and Casino has had quite the makeover. The project that included the 11-story “Cactus Tower” a ballroom, parking garage and a Sky Bridge to UltraStar finished in 2019. UltraStar was later replaced by Ak-Chin Circle in late-2020.
that would allow the city to collect a property tax to fund municipal fire and police departments. The new tax replaced a secondary property tax levied by the Maricopa Fire District. On average, it saved taxpayers around $400 per year.
From above: Maricopa then and now
NOW: The same intersection can be seen with new shopping centers at Edison Pointe. Ross Dress for Less and Planet Fitness were just two of the new businesses that opened in 2018; IHOP opened New Year’s Day the next year.
PROPERTY TAXES
THEN: Work continues at North John Wayne Parkway and West Edison Road in 2016. Land that would later become Edison Pointe can be seen on the right side.
$19.4M $18.6M
*
$20.00
$17.1M
$16.0M
$16.0M $15.6M
$15.5M $15.1M $14.7M
$14.3M
$15.00
$11.1M $11.4M $11.4M $11.2M
$9.4M
THEN: This northeast facing photo shows Maricopa High School in 1998. The labeled “old gym” and library remain today.
$10.00
$7.8M
$5.4M
$5.00
$2.1M
3.20% 3.76% 3.23% 2.89% 4.57% 5.46% 5.57% 6.85% 7.36% 6.48% 6.48% 6.19% 5.91% 5.97% 5.57% 5.25% 5.01% 4.66%
$0.00
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
2012-13
2013-14
2014-15
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
Table 1
*Projected
Year
Collected
NOW: MHS can be seen in this east-facing photo in 2023.
2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
$2.10 $5.40
Notes: The fiscal year begins July 1 and ends June 30. | In 2010-11, a second levy was enacted to service the city's debts. All totals including and after that year include the second levy. | Property taxes were not collected until Prop 400 passed in 2006, allowing a public safety levy. $7.80
$9.40 $11.20 $11.40 $11.40 $11.10 $16.00
InMaricopa.com | October 2023
October 2023 | InMaricopa.com
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