Mohave County’s budget is a controversial topic when it comes to the Supervisor’s wishes and those presented by County staff. As you may recall, the fiscal year 2025 budget presented last June to the Board of Supervisors included a very large wish list which would ultimately cause an $18,500,000 deficit. Included in the wish list was $5m for a new county morgue and approximately $10.5m for a new legal services center.
The County and several Supervisors in an attempt to quell the deficit proposed a sales tax. Their arguments included the idea that it would force out-of-state visitors and tourists to pay their “fair share” of the tax burden. District 5 Supervisor Ron Gould, an outspoken adversary of a sales tax, asked the question of how many full-time residents own a home in Mohave County. The amount was underwhelming, coming in at only 27%. That means home ownership in Mohave County is almost entirely made up of out-of-state second homeowners and tourists who visit the area. Expecting that our “guests” would be paying their fair share of the tax burden by implementing a sales tax was disingenuous by way of them already contributing well over half of the property taxes. It should also be noted that their property tax burden is higher than a full-time resident due to the State’s Primary Property Tax Education Reduction. Implementing a sales tax would have impacted full-time Mohave County residents where the wages fall significantly short of the national average. Thankfully, Supervisor Gould stood his ground and the looming $18.5m deficit seemed to have magically disappeared.
Moving forward to the fiscal year 2026 budget and the presentation by County staff was a bit different this time. Finance Director Luke Mournian presented several options to the Board as follows:
A: This includes a balanced budget with total revenues exceeding expenses by $725,000. It includes: a new Division Judge; 2 budget neutral initiatives and 1 market adjustment for the Sheriff’s office.
B: This includes a balanced budget with total revenues exceeding expenses by $69,000. It includes: all initiatives from option A; and additional funding for 26 of 32 budget requests, including 8 full-time positions.
C: This option does not include a balanced budget with total expenses exceeding revenues by $821,000. It includes: all initiatives from option B; and additional funding for 6 additional full-time positions.
D: This option does not include a balanced budget with total expenses exceeding revenues by $1.9m. It includes: all initiatives from option C; and additional funding for Sheriff’s deputy compensation package; and an upgrade to AXON Body Camera package.
Staff is recommending option B. As of right now, the County (staff) is asking for a 6.96% increase in the primary property taxes. For example, for every $100k of primary property value, the tax would be $181.47, so for a $200k home, you would pay to the County (not including special/school district levies) $362.94.
The Board of Supervisors will vote on the budget at their June 16th meeting, and on August 4th they will vote on the adoption of the FY2025-2026 Tax Levies and Rates for Mohave County tax authorities and acknowledge the tax levies for special districts, school districts, fire districts and cities and towns in accordance with state statutes.
Call or email all of the Supervisors if you don’t want your property tax raised.