County assessor applauds new law to help veterans, widows, disabled people with property taxes

The Maricopa County assessor says a new law signed this spring will qualify more veterans, widows and disabled people for a program designed to keep property tax bills low.

The law changes one of the variables in a formula used to determine if certain property owners qualify for the statewide personal exemptions program. Arizona’s GDP was used for years.

But now it's being replaced with the Federal House Price Index, which Maricopa County Assessor Eddie Cook said is more aligned with the economy and housing prices throughout the country.

“So we expect probably about, here in Maricopa County, about 11,000 property owners that may be added to this program,” Cook said

In five years as county assessor, Cook said he’s learned that Arizona laws related to property tax are among the most complex in the country.

An active year at the state Legislature by his office helped four bills get signed by Gov. Katie Hobbs.

Vetoed was legislation aimed at deterring people from filing a fake deed with a county recorder to steal a home.

Cook said doing so is a misdemeanor.

“And that, to me, was like, you got to be kidding. These homes are hundreds of thousands or a million dollars,” he said.

Hobbs wrote in her veto letter that she takes home title fraud seriously, but that this bill doesn’t fix it.