Smith tax lien bill again rejected in House

After reconsideration, the Arizona House of Representatives again voted down Senate Bill 1071 Wednesday, 28-31, with one no vote.

Previously, the Senate had approved the bill with a large majority, but the House had rejected it, 28-30.

The bill was generated by a situation in Pinal County in which Sonoran Land Fund LLC bought almost 3,000 parcels in a subdivision through a tax lien and requested one deed with the processing fee paid as one parcel. By state law, county treasurers in Arizona charge $50 per parcel.

The bill would have put a $500 cap on those fees in the aggregate if the title purchase involved 10 or more parcels.

Primary sponsors of SB 1071 were Republicans Sen. Steve Smith and Rep. David Smith and Democrat Sen. Barbara McGuire. Co-sponsors were Republicans Sen. David Farnsworth, Sen. Gail Griffin, Sen. Steve Pierce, Rep. Justin Olson, Rep. Frank Pratt and Rep. T.J. Shope.

House Minority Whip Rebecca Rios (D-District 27), formerly of Pinal County, said she felt the county was “really being taken by this piece of legislation.” She said the bill would have sent the message “that you too can come down here to change the laws to benefit you.”

She said it was special legislation that was retroactive to benefit one man.

Rios voted against the bill, as did Bruce Wheeler (D-District 10). He pointed out Pinal County Treasurer Dolores “Dodie” Doolittle had offered investor Wayne Howard of Sonoran Land Fund a settlement of $25,000 when his company would have owed more than $145,000 in fees for the certificates of purchase. That was rejected.

“The people that will get stuck with the financial bill if this legislative bill passes are the taxpayers of Pinal County,” Wheeler said.

Supporters of the bill dismissed claims by Doolittle that there was work attached to each parcel and, in this case, it would take 43 days for one person to process all 2,922 parcels.

“County workers will actually have something to do,” Rep. Sonny Borrelli (R-District 5) said. “That’s called work.”

Rep. Warren Peterson (R-District 12) said he could draft the deed for Pinal County, “and I guarantee it wouldn’t take 1,000 hours to do that.”

Doolittle was unavailable for comment.

While some opponents brought up Howard’s access to funds, Rep. Jeff Weninger (R-District 17) said the investor’s wealth was not germane to the argument. He said if Doolittle’s claims about the demands on time were true, it was proof of “serious inefficiencies” in the county government.

Rep. Bob Thorpe (R-District 6) said Howard was doing Pinal County a “great service” by paying the back taxes on nearly 3,000 parcels. “The county would have taken years and years and years to recoup those back taxes,” he said.