It’s budget season, a time of changes, but those changes won’t include a hike in local property tax rates.

The City of Maricopa’s primary tax rate will remain at 4.7845. With this week’s tentative budget adoption, the Pinal County rate is expected to stay at 3.8699. But that doesn’t mean more money won’t be rolling in.

In fact, Maricopa expects to collect 4.2 percent more in its levy. 

“The tax rate for property owners in the City of Maricopa will remain the same,” said Maricopa Finance Director Brenda Hasler. “Due to increased property values, the overall amount the City is proposing to collect will increase.”

During the current fiscal year, Maricopa’s tax levy was $10.99 million. With the new fiscal year, that levy will be around $11.7 million. Primary property taxes on a $100,000 home will increase from $459.30 to $478.45.

The city will have a mandated Truth in Taxation Public Hearing on the primary property tax rate June 20 at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

Meanwhile, the county’s budget has decreased by $3.6 million. About 49 percent of the Pinal County general fund comes from property taxes. In the county budget, 60 percent of all revenue goes to the Sheriff’s Office, the County Attorney’s Office and the courts.

The tentative budget totals $406 million.

Of property tax that is collected by Pinal County, about 25 percent goes to the county. The rest goes to school districts, Central Arizona College, municipalities and other taxing entities.

“What we are doing is putting a ceiling on our final budget,” Assistant County Manager Leo Lew said.  “The total budget number cannot go up from here.  But there is some flexibility to be able to reallocate money and shift money around if we need to before adoption of the final budget.”

Lew also stated that Pinal County saw a 3.2 percent growth in new construction valuation, a slight increase in existing property valuation and excise tax collections. 

The Board of Supervisors will vote on the final budget on July 12, with the adoption of the tax levy rates coming on Aug. 21.