Parker Live News from the Parker Strip since 2009.
UPDATE 4:54pm: According to the County, a mistake was made in the notice put out about how the proposed tax would affect taxpayers. Rather than a $100,000 home costing an extra $132 per year, it would cost an extra $13.20. Article below changed to reflect this.
—
The Board of Supervisors are moving ahead with a proposal to increase property taxes in La Paz County, with a public hearing scheduled for August 10th.
At a Board meeting last week, Supervisor Duce Minor said that although cuts have been made by the Board and other departments, they may not be enough by themselves to balance the County’s budget. He said that some departments had not made cuts yet.
Supervisor D.L. Wilson added that the tentative budget they approved was a “bare bones, no cushion budget” that doesn’t allow the County to build its own cash reserves. He said reserves are necessary for a healthy financial status at the County.
According to a public notice posted this week, the proposed tax increase would give the County $356,341 in additional revenue for its budget, an increase in primary property taxes of 5.6%.
“The proposed tax increase will cause La Paz County’s primary property taxes on a $100,000 home to increase $13.20,” the notice reads [updated with correct decimal].
The increase excludes new construction, changes for voter-approved bond debt and budget and tax overrides.
Minor said he isn’t “sold” on the tentative budget proposal yet, and hopes there can be other changes made that will be beneficial before the final budget is adopted next month.
A public hearing will be held on Thursday, August 10th 2017 at 2pm at the La Paz County Board of Supervisors Meeting Room at 1108 Joshua Avenue in Parker. All interested citizens are invited to attend.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !
Fuck no. I already pay 2000. A year and I live in Salome.
Are you kidding! It’s so high here, Havasu is half of what we pay! ????
we need to go to this
Why should us home owners bail out the county for there miss management of the money
Please, no. I work for the county. And we have not received cost of living raise. So, how will county employees afford higher taxes??? I agree with Mr. Minor.
WOW, Taxed to the max. And three Republicans in charge. Not the Make America Great kind anyway.
Toll roads next?
????. That’s just awful!
Yep. Thank God we own the place and have no mortgage.
I live on SS and we don’t get raises. This needs to be stopped. ????
How about a small increase on sales tax everyone pays
I will fight tooth and nail, prepare yourselves for a lawsuit
The taxes just went up for that stupid AWC college. This increase will not help at all
For your information that AWC building is not stupid. That is a wonderful college that is helping the local kids here get the education they need. Don’t be disrespectful
Increase the property taxes for services that we are barely getting now???? to pay for the lack of management skills in Parker??? WTF, this area is depressed and barely hanging on as it is and you want to increase property taxes???
This should go over well..
not my county thank goodness, property tax on someone’s primary residence is criminal.
WTH it’s already to high!! We are already getting screwed on the sewer system that the city was too stupid to acquire federal funds for!
Property taxes are already way to high. I pay 3 times as much as i did in farmington NM. For the same size house and lot.
Exactly property taxes have tripled in the last 7 years
Well do people who build an apartment above their garage get double taxed? It has went from a single family residence to a multi family residence! Geez more money for the county!
The graduation rate of 16% as of last year doesn’t justify the costs it created…
Did I read it right a $100,000 home will increase $132
To support the Jail?
Perfect example how they want the people to bail out a town that has no clue how to manage ANYTHING!!!
All you’re going to do as a tax payer is fatten some other office idiots pockets.
How about stop spending money on stupid crimes, such as $10k to extradite an individual from Hawaii on a Probation violation, only for that person to be reinstated (the list goes on).
wasting time and money with the judiciary process, which can take up to 4 years in a trial case (public pretender lawyers make $75 an hour)
Mismanagement and misconduct
Runs rampid in Lapaz.
it’s quite ridiculous, and the issue are hidden from the public
Even when task force agents have been found to be corrupt,
shhhh don’t tell anyone!
How about cutting the pay of persons holding an office position
How about they take responsibility and bail themselves out of debt..
Someone must need a new house and a car so let’s increase property tax.
17% on food from tribal and local tax isn’t enough already?
County goes broke, but instead of firing those who caused it you fired workers, now you want landowners to pay the bill ? Umm hell to the No! That’s just wrong! Adjust sups contracts for pay….they earn way too much for a bankrupted County.
Why don’t they start selling of equipment and trucks that they are not using t hat are just sitting in the yard going to waste. Start handling the money better. Get a better quified financial /business planner. Ridiculous!! Start letting go all of the staff members that are just sitting on their butts. There’s other ways to get the MONEY.
Stop the insanity , cut off the head
But of course…if you’re hired to do a job, like say…..manage a county, be responsible, fix the screw ups of previous inept politicians, tell us you can do all this when you were asking for our votes….AND you fail, of course the easiest fix is to raise our taxes. It won’t hurt the BOS reps because at their salary it’s pennies to them. They’re idiots if they think the voters are going to jump for joy and say, “Hey go for it”. Raise our property taxes and I would bet that in about 2 1/2 years, when you loose re-elections, and you’re regulated back down to “Joe Citizen” status pinching pennies like the rest of us, even you may realize how stupid this proposal is/was. Smarten up BOS, your idea is lame.
Not to mention the fuel bill for the county of 30k a month
Police officers leave their vehicles running while they eat inside restraunts
I understand if it’s k-9
But it’s not
I’m from the Government and I’m here to help you.
Check please.
Here you go Denny.
Your mom is gunna love this. Anthony John Moody Nelson
They need better management not more taxes
You get what you vote for!!
UPDATE: The County wishes to correct and clarify a mistake made in their public notice. A house valued at $100,000 would pay an extra $13.20 per year, not $132 as the notice stated.
Devin- AWC is a community college, which traditionally do not graduate a lot of students. Many of the classes are for enrichment only, many students simply take a few classes, drop out rates are high, as are transfer rates. AWC had a 17% graduation rate last year. Mohave Community College had a 15% grad rate. Pima CC had a 9% grad rate. Coconino CC had a 5% grad rate. Mesa CC had a 13% grad rate. The only school that outperformed AWC was Eastern Arizona CC at 29% and they are nearly fully funded by the state, unlike the rest of the of the state’s community colleges, which have been cut to the bone by the state government over the past ten years. Just wanted to put that in perspective.
it is still too much
Thank you, makes more sense.
Seems like a fair deal to me. What’s all the fuss about?
^^^exactly
Why do the people have to pay substantially more just to survive on basic needs….?
Between the tribes, and the county’s
Bs shenanigans it’s a wonder why it’s not a ghost town
The increase of tax is only going to increase illegal activities as a means of survival in an already repressed town
The reason so many homes for sale
Didn’t the Nault/Schuler regime leave property off the tax roles (like the egg farm in Bouse)? Inquiring minds want to know if those rumors are true…because taxes shouldn’t be raised on those who are already paying until everyone is paying, just saying!
Why should us home owners bail the county out for your miss management of funds. Cut your guys pay.
There is nothing good about a tax increase for those who have to pay more , so why would you only pick on home owners , how is that fair ???
Oh please explain your logic on how that would work?
Every frickin year it goes up yet they never have an answer when you ask why?
On the same day that any LPC supervisor votes for another tax increase, I will immediately open up a crowdfunding account for the the express purpose of financing a recall election, not only for any renegade, tax-and-spend supervisor but also for any elected official who can’t or won’t subordinate his or her greed for the benefit and relief of taxpayers and residents of this county.
With so many pissed off taxpayers, there will be no shortage of crowdfunding dollars to, once and for all, deep-six the onslaught of politicians who continually and relentlessly show up at election time with empty promises and outrageous lies, for no other purpose but to feed at the public trough, living high off the hog while taxpayers scrimp and struggle to get by.
Go ahead, vote for a tax increase! It will be so much fun dragging your asses from office, onto the street where— — — -
################ [edited]
Umm, Fed Up, can you express differences in political opinion without the added insults? Them’s the rules around here. Thanks.
So long as our elected officials continue to make empty promises and lie, there’s no justification for picking on me for expressing my true feelings, which likely match 90% of the residents of this county. One of the reasons our elected officials are out of control is because they have no idea what residents are truly thinking, because publications like yours edit and insulate the electorate from elected officials.
You’re ostensibly demanding respect for elected officials. I’ve never read where you have ever held an elected officials feet to the fire, however, you’re unfairly holding my feet to the fire now. What about some reciprocity — and respect for taxpayers? Your audience makes a paycheck possible for you, the same audience that makes paychecks possible for elected officials.
Taxpayers like me have enough problems already, without you taking unfair license to pick a fight with some of us. There was absolutely nothing wrong or inappropriate with my comment that you edited.
We’re only going to fix the financial mess in this county by communicating with each other. Officials need to know what’s on our minds, otherwise, like always, it’ll continue to be business as usual. So be proactive. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Encourage communication, not discouraging it by deleting or editing comments, which people take time out of their lives to compose and post. By shutting someone down, they get frustrated, throw up their hands, and then move back to Farmington.
Increases in inflation rate should be covered by the annual increase in property valuation. (About 2% per year) Increasing the property tax by 5.6% to cover years of poor management by previous Board of Supervisors and County Administrators is unacceptable.
I’m glad that the new leadership has recognized that the County is broke and is attempting to correct the situation. I don’t agree with trying to correct years of neglect in just two or three years. It’s bad enough that discharged and current County employees have to take the brunt of pain through a reduction of hours worked. In addition, the Board of Supervisors have insisted that most departments reduce their budgets for FY 2018. However, this apparently does not include the Board of Supervisors department as their Tentative Budget” entry for 2018 is exactly the same as it was last year! $667,898. That doesn’t sound like sharing the pain to me.
In addition, I understand the BOS intends to increase certain fees for services. And nowhere can I find any reference to any “Sunset” provisions requiring the Board to review any of these changes as circumstances change in the future. I guess we are supposed to ‘trust them”. Not likely anymore.
I hope the board members realize voting for this tax increase is “Political Suicide”!
I with you. I’m over it. It’s not our fault the county is in debt
I agree with you it’s all bs
It would cost money to hire an advisor.
Not the town , its e county.
No, it’s 13.20
Get rid of these so called board of supervisors.
Fonzi they did hire an advisor
They had to let them go as they could not afford to pay them.
Beside they wont follow recommendations anyway
Fonzi the court is called Lapaz county superior
Not Parker superior
Maybe educate yourself more before rebutting
As my comment refers to Lapaz County
If county goes bankrupt, we will likely have to pay a lot more. Buckskin Fire District seems to go up every year, now property taxes? Sweet!!! How bout charging to launch boats. Donation boxes at free day use areas etc??? Trim all fat asap before raising taxes!
Fed Up- You broke the rules by devolving into personal insults. So there was something wrong with what you said. As far as me stifling legitimate dissent, re-read this page and say that again with a straight face. 🙂
raise taxes on rez.lease lands. untapped source of revenue.
They to hire people that aren’t corrupt and care about this town.
Yes, raising taxes is extremely unpopular and not the first choice. However, La Paz County itself hasn’t raised taxes in 4 years, I believe. Other taxing authorities (Fire Depts, Water, etc) may have raised theirs, but the County itself hasn’t.
It sucks, but it’s a necessary decision to keep the County from going bankrupt; that would be worse.
I understand that when everyone thought it was $132/year, people got pissed. But now that you know it’s barely over $1 per month, you’re still pissed?? Really? Would you prefer that more people in this county lose their jobs to cover it? How will that help? That would be more money lost through (sales) taxes, spending at local stores, etc. I also understand that if your value is more than $100,000 it will be more than that. But even at $300,000 it makes it a little more than $3 per month. You pay $5 for a Starbucks, even more for a pack of cigarettes or a 6-pack or bottle of wine, but you’re losing your minds to get the county that you live in out of trouble?
Is it shameful we’re in this position? Absolutely! But there are many employees who are just trying to work hard and earn a living; not everyone had a hand in this debacle.
County Departments still need to b trimmed of non essential employees. County Attorney office is first that should b looked at……Friday potlucks, victim rights position not doing job correctly, assistants to the assistants? Trim the fat. Dump Hobbs. Disgrace to the County.
I wish the residents of La Paz County were this fired up about the management of the county and those who supported him during last years election cycle. If responsible individuals were in place watching out for your county and its finances steps would of been taken in 2016 to avoid the financial melt down that now has resulted in drastic steps like reducing the work force and raising taxes. I campaigned with the message that the county was in dire straights financially but this fact was covered up by clever manipulation of funds during the election cycle. You noticed as soon as the election was over the County Administrator resigns. Hmmmmmm. In the past 9 years property taxes increased to pay for financial short comings as result of lawsuits including the Yakima decision. As a past county employee it saddens me to see many of my friends who worked for the county let go to save money. Even this process seemed to be to be a bit biased as a number of employees who are still employed don’t meet the minimal requirements or experience to hold their positions. I am also not happy we need to raise property taxes once again to cover the mismanagement of the previous administration. We as tax payers need to make sure that this time around we hold our leadership responsible to manage our money in a way to bail us out of this financial mess. If I hear of another Park being built as many were during our financial problems over the past 9 years,wasting your tax dollars that have done nothing but to increase the number of Parks with a reduced work force that cannot take care of them. I hope all the residents of La Paz enjoy the new park in Cibola as there are no user fees to support it or maintain it. Hmmmmmm
Gary Zak 2020
Oh I see – they want the people to bail the County out
for their mistakes. I smh. sicking!