Pima County Just Set Your 2026 Tax Rate. Here's the Math.

One August vote produced the number the Treasurer will print on the statement reaching your mailbox next month. Reading it takes three things the bill doesn't show: the assessment ratio, a 5 percent cap, and everyone else's levy.

Pima County's combined property tax rate went up 8.74 cents per $100 of net assessed value on Monday. That was August 17 — the third Monday in August, when the Board of Supervisors does something almost nobody attends and every property owner pays for: it sets the rates for every taxing jurisdiction in the county, from the county itself down through the school districts, the community college, the cities and towns and the fire districts.

$5.2835

Combined Pima County rate per $100 of net assessed value, 2026-27

+8.74¢

Increase in the combined county rate over 2025-26

10%

Share of a home's limited value that is taxable in Arizona

Oct. 1

First half of 2026 taxes due; delinquent after Nov. 2 this year

What the Board Actually Set

The county levies four separate property taxes and they move independently. For 2026-27 the primary rate — the one funding the general fund — is $4.2733 per $100 of net assessed value, up 7.90 cents from $4.1943. The Library District is $0.5820 and the Regional Flood Control District $0.3407; both went through their own truth-in-taxation hearings in June. Debt service moved the other way, down about 2.8 cents to $0.0875. The four add to $5.2835, against $5.1961 last year.

None of this arrived unannounced. Arizona requires a truth-in-taxation notice whenever a jurisdiction intends to collect more primary tax on existing property than the year before, and the county's put the increase at $26,059,116, or 5.26 percent. Hearings were held June 23, the same evening the board adopted its $1.8 billion fiscal 2027 budget. Monday's vote was the arithmetic that follows a budget, not the decision itself.

The Rate Is Not the Bill

Two things keep an 8.74-cent increase from landing as a proportional jump. The first is Arizona's Proposition 117, passed in 2012 and in effect since 2015. Taxes are calculated on limited property value, not market value, and in the ordinary case limited value rises no more than 5 percent a year regardless of what the house would sell for. Residential property is then assessed at 10 percent of that limited value — so the taxable base is both far smaller than the number in your head and far slower to move.

The second is that Pima County is one line on a bill with many. School districts, Pima Community College, your city or town, and — outside city limits — your fire district each levy separately, on budgets the county does not write. The board publishes all those rates in the same August resolution, which is why one vote covers dozens of jurisdictions. A county rate that moved 8.74 cents tells you nothing about what the other lines did.

"In the ordinary case" is doing real work in that sentence. The 5 percent limit is not unconditional: under A.R.S. §42-13302, a parcel that has been modified by construction, destruction or demolition, has undergone a change in use, was erroneously left off the roll the year before, or has been split, subdivided or consolidated is revalued under what the assessors call Rule B — set against comparable property of the same use rather than against its own prior year — and that can move a limited value by well more than 5 percent. Note what is not on that list: the same statute says a change in the occupant or classification of a single-family residence is not, by itself, a change in use, so moving a house between owner-occupied and rental treatment does not open the cap. If you added a casita, tore something down, split a lot or changed how the property is actually used, budget from the notice rather than from the cap.

Run It on Your Own House

The arithmetic is short. Take the limited property value from your Notice of Value, move the decimal one place left for the assessment ratio, divide by 100, multiply by the rate. Arizona's truth-in-taxation notices use a $100,000 home as their convention, which makes a clean reference point: $100,000 of limited value is $10,000 assessed, and at $4.2733 the county primary tax is $427.33. All four county levies come to $528.35 on that house, $8.74 more than the same house at the same limited value paid a year ago. A home carrying $300,000 of limited value owes roughly $1,585 for 2026-27, about $26 more on that same held-constant basis. Everything above that is somebody else's levy.

Those two comparisons hold the taxable base still, which is what isolates the rate change — and it is not what your bill will do if your limited value also moved. Run both years to see the real difference. A $300,000 limited value arrived at through a full 5 percent increase means last year's was about $285,714, and $285,714 at last year's $5.1961 is roughly $1,485 against this year's $1,585: about $100 more, not $26. The rate contributed a quarter of that; the value contributed the rest.

• The Calendar (Mailed mid-September, Oct. 1, Nov. 2 at 5 p.m.): The Treasurer mails 2026 statements in mid-September. The first half is due October 1, the second half March 1. The usual delinquency dates are November 1 and May 1, but both fall on a weekend this cycle — November 1, 2026 is a Sunday and May 1, 2027 a Saturday — and A.R.S. §42-18052 moves a delinquency landing on a weekend or legal holiday to 5 p.m. on the next business day. For this bill that is 5 p.m. Monday, November 2, 2026 and 5 p.m. Monday, May 3, 2027. Unpaid balances carry statutory interest of 16 percent a year.
• If the Value Looks Wrong (Notice of Value, By March 1, 60 days to petition): August is too late to argue valuation — the rate is applied to values the Assessor set months ago. The Assessor mails a Notice of Value by March 1 for the following tax year, so the limited value on this September's bill is the one mailed by March 1, 2025, and the notice that arrived this past March sets the 2027 bill. An owner has 60 days from that mailing to petition for review.
• If You Escrow (Impound account, Annual analysis, Payment change): If a lender pays your taxes from an impound account, you will not see the increase directly. It surfaces when the servicer runs its next escrow analysis against the new bill and adjusts the monthly payment.

What It Means at the Closing Table

For anyone closing this fall, the number used to prorate taxes between buyer and seller is now known rather than estimated — until this week, escrow was working from last year's rate. Buyers running payment math should apply the 2026-27 rates to the property's limited property value, not to the price they are paying. A house selling well above its limited value is not taxed on the sale price, and Proposition 117 caps how fast the assessed base can catch up.

Quick reference (August 21, 2026): Pima County's 2026-27 rates, set by the Board of Supervisors on August 17, 2026 — primary $4.2733 per $100 of net assessed value (up 7.90 cents), Library District $0.5820, Regional Flood Control District $0.3407, debt service $0.0875; combined $5.2835, up 8.74 cents from $5.1961. Residential property is assessed at 10 percent of limited property value, and Proposition 117 caps annual growth in that value at 5 percent except where Rule B revaluation applies (A.R.S. §42-13302 — construction, demolition, a change in use, an erroneous omission from the roll, a split or a consolidation; a change in the occupant or classification of a single-family residence is not, by itself, a change in use). Dollar comparisons above hold the limited value constant, so they measure the rate change and not a whole bill's year-over-year move. Statements are mailed in mid-September; first half due October 1, second half March 1, with delinquency after 5 p.m. on November 2, 2026 and May 3, 2027 — the next business days, because November 1 falls on a Sunday and May 1 on a Saturday (A.R.S. §42-18052). General information, not tax or legal advice — confirm your figures with the Pima County Treasurer and Assessor and consult a tax professional.

What's Actually New on Your Statement

The rate is the only genuinely new information on the statement headed for your mailbox. The rest — your limited value, the 10 percent ratio, the 5 percent cap — was fixed months ago and moves slowly by design. Read the bill when it lands in September, check its limited value against the tax-year-2026 Notice of Value, the one mailed by March 1, 2025 rather than the notice that came this past March, and put next March's deadline on the calendar while you have it in front of you.

Sources

Pima County Supervisor, District 4 — "District 4 Update - August 2026" (published by The Vail Voice) — thevailvoice.com/district-4-update-august-2026 — accessed August 21, 2026 (for the August 17 fiscal year 2026/2027 tax-rate approval hearing, the 7.9-cent increase in the primary rate, and the 8.74-cent combined increase including the Library and Regional Flood Control Districts and debt service). Pima County — "Property Tax Levies & Rates" — pima.gov/628/Property-Tax-Levies-Rates — accessed August 21, 2026 (for the 2026-27 rates of $4.2733 primary, $0.5820 Library District, $0.3407 Regional Flood Control District and $0.0875 debt service). Pima County — "Board passes $1.8 billion budget for FY 2027; Addresses priorities for health, safety, and prosperity" — content.govdelivery.com/accounts/AZPIMA/bulletins/41d8865 — accessed August 21, 2026 (for the June 23, 2026 adoption of the $1.8 billion fiscal 2027 budget and the debt service rate of $0.0875, a 2.8-cent decrease). Pima County — "Board unanimously adopts final budget; funds critical needs, keeps tax rate low" — content.govdelivery.com/accounts/AZPIMA/bulletins/3e5bf88 — accessed August 21, 2026 (for the 2025-26 primary rate of $4.1943 and total rate of $5.1961 per $100 of net assessed value). Pima County — truth-in-taxation notice, fiscal year 2026/27 — pima.gov — accessed August 21, 2026 (for the proposed primary property tax increase of $26,059,116, or 5.26 percent, the $427.33 primary tax on a $100,000 home, and the June 23, 2026 public hearings on the primary rate, the Library District and the Regional Flood Control District). Arizona Revised Statutes §42-17107 — "Truth in taxation notice and hearing; roll call vote on tax increase; definition" — azleg.gov/ars/42/17107.htm — accessed August 21, 2026 (for the notice and hearing requirement that applies when a jurisdiction proposes to collect more primary property tax on existing property). Pima County Treasurer's Office — "General Information" — to.pima.gov/generalInfo — accessed August 21, 2026 (for the Board of Supervisors setting rates for all taxing jurisdictions on the third Monday in August, the mid-September mailing of tax statements, the October 1 and March 1 due dates, the November 1 and May 1 delinquency dates at 5 p.m., and the 16 percent annual statutory interest, or 1.333 percent monthly). Arizona Revised Statutes §42-18052 — "Due dates and times; delinquency" — azleg.gov/ars/42/18052.htm — accessed August 21, 2026 (for delinquency at 5 p.m. on the next business day when November 1 or May 1 falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, which is why this cycle's dates are November 2, 2026 and May 3, 2027). Arizona Revised Statutes §42-13302 — "Determining limited value in cases of modifications, omissions and changes" — azleg.gov/ars/42/13302.htm — accessed August 21, 2026 (for the Rule B circumstances in which limited property value is set against comparable property rather than held to 5 percent growth: erroneous omission from the roll, a change in use, modification by construction, destruction or demolition, and a split, subdivision or consolidation; and for the statute's own exclusion, that a change in the occupant or classification of a single-family residence is not a change in use in and of itself). Arizona Department of Revenue — "Limited Property Value" — azdor.gov/sites/default/files/2023-03/PROPERTY_LimitedPropertyValue.pdf — accessed August 21, 2026 (for the Rule A 5 percent standard and the Rule B exceptions to it). Arizona Legislative Council — "Proposition 117 Analysis by Legislative Council" — azleg.gov/alispdfs/Council/2012BallotMeasures/Adopted_Prop_117.pdf — accessed August 21, 2026 (for the constitutional limit on annual growth in limited property value to the lesser of 5 percent over the prior year or the current full cash value, and for taxes being levied on limited value). Pima Community College — "Understanding Property Taxes" — pima.edu/administration/finance/docs/UnderstandingPropertyTaxes.pdf — accessed August 21, 2026 (for the 10 percent assessment ratio applied to residential property in Arizona). Pima County Assessor's Office — "Appeals" — asr.pima.gov/appeals — accessed August 21, 2026 (for the Notice of Value mailed by March 1 and the 60-day window to appeal). Arizona Department of Revenue — "The Appeals Process" — azdor.gov/sites/default/files/2023-03/PROPERTY_AppealsProcess.pdf — accessed August 21, 2026 (for the sixty days from the mailing of the Notice of Value in which to file a petition for review of valuation). Rates, deadlines and valuation figures change, and the dollar amounts above are illustrative arithmetic from published rates rather than a calculation of any particular property's bill — confirm your own numbers with the Pima County Treasurer's Office and the Pima County Assessor, and consult a tax professional or attorney for advice about your situation. This post is for informational purposes only and is not tax, legal or financial advice, nor an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase real estate. Kyle Berglund and Tierra Antigua Realty fully support and comply with the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act.

Topics

• Local Real Estate News
• Property Taxes
• Pima County
• Board of Supervisors
• Proposition 117
• Pima County Treasurer
• Homeowners
• Tucson

• All Tucson real estate posts
• Tucson neighborhood guides
• Tucson market statistics