MARICOPA COUNTY ASSESSOR LITIGATION DIVISION February 27 2013

MARICOPA COUNTY ASSESSOR LITIGATION DIVISION February 27, 2013

Litigation Division �Small Claims Tax (ST) �Tax Court (TX) �Civil (CV) (property tax related) �All property types: ◦ Residential, Commercial, Land, Personal Property and IPRs

Personnel �Norman (Ned) Chappell, MAI – Chief Litigation Appraiser ◦ 3 Litigation Consultants – Review TX cases ◦ 4 Appraisers – Review ST cases ◦ Appraisers review plaintiff data, conduct a cost, market sales and/or market income analysis, and evaluate every litigation case for settlement or trial

Personnel �Stephanie Wolfe – Paralegal / Support Staff Supervisor ◦ 5 Support Staff �Responsibilities: Data/case entry and tracking, opening and closing files, processing TASRs and court judgments. ◦ TASR and Judgment turnaround time: � 24 hours in most cases.

Litigation Review Process �ST Cases ◦ Appraiser reviews case and Plaintiff data; ◦ Appraiser contacts plaintiff seeking additional data; ◦ Appraiser conducts cost, sales comparison and/or market income analysis; ◦ Appraiser forwards a settlement recommendation to Plaintiff or prepares evidence packet for trial.

ST Disclosure Requirement �A. R. S. § 12 -172: Small Claims Value Limit Increase to $2, 000 �If the case is based on the income approach to value, the taxpayer shall comply with section 42 -16052 no later than ten business days before the hearing. ◦ If you are appealing the value of an income producing property, you must provide the income data to the Assessor ten (10) or more business days before the trial/hearing.

ST Disclosure Requirement �A. R. S. § 42 -16052 ◦ The owner or agent shall provide income and expense data relating to the property for the three most recent consecutive fiscal years ending on or before September 30 of the previous year. ◦ The owner, an officer of a corporation, a general partner or designated agent shall file a sworn affidavit under penalty of perjury that the information is true and correct to the best of their knowledge.

ST Disclosure Requirement �If you do not disclose the property income data, the Appraiser will inform the court that you have not submitted income data. �The Appraiser will prepare a market income analysis and present that analysis to the court as evidence of the property value.

Litigation Review Process �TX Cases ◦ Upon receipt of Plaintiff disclosure documents, assign case to an Appraiser. ◦ Within 20 business days from the date Appraiser is assigned the case, the Appraiser reviews data and responds to County Attorney. �This is a change from last year’s 10 business day review due to a reduction in staff.

Twenty (20) Business Day Review �Within 20 business days after assignment of a TX case to an Appraiser, the Appraiser will respond to the County Attorney. �The Appraiser will either: ◦ ◦ ◦ Recommend settlement; or Ask the County Attorney to obtain additional information from the plaintiff; and/or Inform the County Attorney that they need additional time to review the plaintiff’s documentation and provide a date when the attorney may expect a response from the appraiser.

Helpful Hints �If the subject was appraised in the past 5 years, please provide all the appraisals. �Income Properties: Provide rent rolls, income and expense info/profit and loss statements, and leases for last 3 years. �Sales Comparison: Provide sales that are comparable to the subject property – not just the subject sale data. �Please – Send us more than just the appeal packet that you submitted to the Assessor and/or SBOE.

STATISTICS: Assessor Litigation Division CYs 2006 thru 2012

Litigation Statistics Litigation Cases Filed Against Maricopa County 2126 2250 2000 CV 1807 ST 1750 TX 1500 TOTAL 1297 1151 1250 1101 999 1000 822 664 750 250 0 696 564 467 500 815 303 186 113 214247 483 432 460 355

Litigation Statistics TX Litigation Cases Filed & Resolved 1200 1101 TX Cases Filed 1000 883 822 800 600 557 483 0 209 186 247 202 289 182 564 460 400 200 792 TX Cases Resolved

Litigation Statistics ST Litigation Cases Filed & Resolved 1600 ST Cases Filed 1400 1297 1347 ST Cases Resolved 1200 1000 800 664 600 696 673 432 400 309 200 113 110 0 672 214 132 355 350

Litigation Statistics Combined ST & TX Litigation Cases Resolved 2400 2200 2000 Total Cases Filed 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 Total Cases Resolved TX Cases Resolved 800 600 400 200 0 ST Cases Resolved

Questions

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