La Paz County adopts FY2025–26 tax levies; supervisors lower county rate but some local district levies rise
August 18, 2025 | La Paz County, Arizona
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After a public hearing, the La Paz County Board of Supervisors adopted the county’s fiscal-year 2025–26 property-tax levies on Aug. 18. Finance Director Megan presented schedule A and B, showing county, schools, fire and special-district levies received from districts and validated by the county assessor’s office.
Key points: Megan said the county’s primary levy rate for FY2026 is slightly lower than the prior year—about a 2.5% decrease on the county rate as presented in the budget—while several local fire districts requested increases. Supervisor Plunkett and others noted a reduction in the county component of the levy does not guarantee smaller overall tax bills for property owners, since independent district levies (fire, school, improvement districts) also appear on property tax bills and are set by those districts.
Supervisor Plunkett noted some fire districts increased their requested rates and that Buckskin and Ehrenberg/Bouse-area fire districts are at their statutory maximum levy of 3.75 percent, so future increases for those districts are constrained by statute. Board members and staff discussed the difficulty of funding volunteer and rural fire services and said the state and counties are seeking better funding mechanisms; they also noted a failed statewide ballot effort in recent years to change fire-district funding.
Vote and outcome: the board voted to adopt the levies as submitted; motion carried by voice vote after the public hearing closed with no public commenters.
Practical effect: county officials cautioned residents that a county-level rate reduction can be outweighed by increases from other taxing districts, so some taxpayers may still see higher bills even where the county rate declined. The adopted schedules included town, school district and special-district levies the county had collected and validated prior to the public hearing.
Ending: the board adopted the FY2025–26 tax levies and asked county staff to publish the adopted schedules and to continue coordinating levy data with the assessor’s office.
Key points: Megan said the county’s primary levy rate for FY2026 is slightly lower than the prior year—about a 2.5% decrease on the county rate as presented in the budget—while several local fire districts requested increases. Supervisor Plunkett and others noted a reduction in the county component of the levy does not guarantee smaller overall tax bills for property owners, since independent district levies (fire, school, improvement districts) also appear on property tax bills and are set by those districts.
Supervisor Plunkett noted some fire districts increased their requested rates and that Buckskin and Ehrenberg/Bouse-area fire districts are at their statutory maximum levy of 3.75 percent, so future increases for those districts are constrained by statute. Board members and staff discussed the difficulty of funding volunteer and rural fire services and said the state and counties are seeking better funding mechanisms; they also noted a failed statewide ballot effort in recent years to change fire-district funding.
Vote and outcome: the board voted to adopt the levies as submitted; motion carried by voice vote after the public hearing closed with no public commenters.
Practical effect: county officials cautioned residents that a county-level rate reduction can be outweighed by increases from other taxing districts, so some taxpayers may still see higher bills even where the county rate declined. The adopted schedules included town, school district and special-district levies the county had collected and validated prior to the public hearing.
Ending: the board adopted the FY2025–26 tax levies and asked county staff to publish the adopted schedules and to continue coordinating levy data with the assessor’s office.
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