Mohave County taxpayers who are paying taxes on vacant land have good reason to question their tax bills.
A survey of vacant land parcels in the vicinity of Rhodes Homes’ Pravada development in Golden Valley South shows some land owners are paying as much as six times the amount of taxes on their land as their neighbors.
A sample of parcels in Golden Valley Ranch Estates, which borders Pravada on the east and west, showed land owners pay as much as $80 per acre difference on their properties. Three parcels of undeveloped land immediately adjacent to Pravada pay a range of $31.45 per acre to $110.44 per acre according to Mohave County tax records from the County Assessor and Treasurer’s offices.
The one that pays $31.45 per acre is a 2.5-acre parcel valued at $20,965 that costs the property owner $78.63 per year in taxes. A 2.35-acre parcel, literally within a few hundred feet of the first parcel, is 2.35 acres and pays $64.14 per acre. Taxes on that parcel are $150.73 per year on a property valued at $19,707. Even though that owner pays $82.10 more a year in taxes than the other property owner, that property is assessed to be slightly lower in value than the one that pays the lower taxes.
A third 2.5-acre parcel in the same region is valued at $32,268 and pays $110.44 per acre in taxes for a total yearly property tax bill of $276.09. Its assessed value is at least 33 percent higher than the other two properties.
The things the three properties have in common are that they are adjacent to Pravada, they are approximately the same size and they are undeveloped and do not currently have road access, but do have right-of-ways.
Yet their tax bills are nowhere near similar.
The three properties were selected at random from the Mohave County Geographic Information System map.
Westar Development, LLC 90, is going in front of the Board of Supervisors for a hearing on rezoning rural zoned property at Bolsa Drive and Aztec Road on Monday. It has a 37.2-acre parcel it wants to rezone to Urban Development Area, General Commercial and Urban Development Area, Light Industrial. The company wants to build Aztec Commercial Center on the land.
The Westar-owned parcel is valued at $491,964. It pays $58.88 per acre in property taxes for a yearly tax bill of $2,196.
But, the big winner in the Mohave County property tax lottery is Rhodes Homes. It has a 1,134-acre parcel valued at $1,808,790 and pays $16.98 per acre in property taxes for a total tax bill of $19,258.80.
Another Rhodes property in the Pravada development is 628.9 acres and valued at $1,179,188. Rhodes pays $20.05 per acre in taxes for a total yearly tax bill of $12,609.60.
The actual value ascribed to the properties by the assessor ranges from $12,907 for the 2.5-acre lot that pays the highest property tax rate, $110.44 per acre, to the Rhodes 1,134-acre property that, according to the assessor, is valued at $1,595.05 per acre. If the taxes on it were the same as the adjacent 2.5-acre undeveloped land the yearly tax bill on the Rhodes land would be $125,238.96 instead of the $19,258.80 the company actually pays. That would be a net loss of $105,980.16 in revenue for county coffers.
If the highest-valued property paid the same rate as Rhodes does for its lowest rate the owner of that 2.5-acre lot would pay $67.45 a year instead of $276.09.
The following is a list of the properties that were surveyed. The Golden Valley Ranch Estates properties were selected at random. The Rhodes properties are two of several parcels that total approximately 6,000 acres. The Westar property was chosen because it is in the same vicinity as the Rhodes property and is also owned by a commercial investor.
None of the properties currently have infrastructure in place. The Rhodes and Westar properties are each accessible by existing roadways.
- Golden Valley Ranch Estates, 2.5 acres, valued at $32,268 (per acre $12,907.20), assessed full cash value $5,163, assessed limited value $2,337. Tax bill $276.09. Per acre taxes: $110.44.
- Golden Valley Ranch Estates, 2.5 acres, valued at $20,965 (per acre $8,386), assessed full cash value $3,354, assessed limited value $1,583. Tax bill $78.63. Per acre taxes: $31.45.
- Golden Valley Ranch Estates, 2.35 acres, valued at $19,707 (per acre $8,385.95), assessed full cash value $3,153, assessed limited value $1,488. Tax bill $150.73. Per acre taxes: $64.14.
- Rhodes Homes, 1,134.01 acres, valued at $1,808,790 (per acre $1,595.05), assessed full cash value $289,406, assessed limited value $144,159. Tax bill $19,258.80. Per acre taxes: $16.98.
- Rhodes Homes, 628.9 acres, valued at $1,179,188 (per acre $1,875), assessed full cash value $188,670, assessed limited value $115,344. Tax bill $12,609.60. Per acre taxes: $20.05.
- Westar Development, 37.3 acres, valued at $451,964 (per acre $12,117), assessed full cash value $72,314, assessed limited value $37,436. Tax bill $2,196. Per acre taxes: $58.88.
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