Brian Johnson is the Democratic candidate for Pima County treasurer.
Ballots were still reaching Pima County voters a week after the 2024 election officially began. This delay stemmed from a problem with approximately 500 properties that were listed by the Recorder’s Office in different school districts than those on the official Assessor’s Office records. While this might be the first time we’ve noticed such a discrepancy affecting ballots, similar issues have certainly occurred before in property tax administration.
Inefficiency in providing services and information to the county’s citizens has been an issue that frustrates citizens. Much of that is because of a lack of cohesion among the county’s Recorder, Assessor and Treasurer offices. There has been a tradition of proprietary authority and control over each of the offices’ particular functions. This does not serve the citizens very well.
One way to bring these offices together is to integrate their information systems.
Back in 2015, during my tenure in the county’s Finance Department, I proposed a solution to integrate relevant data across the appropriate offices into a single data infrastructure using vendor software designed for such purposes.
I had gathered and presented programs from three vendors already in use in Arizona, familiar with the business rules and processes embedded in Arizona statutes. Unfortunately, this proposal was immediately discarded by the elected assessor and treasurer, who preferred their own ‘home-grown’ information systems.
Taxpayers are especially impacted by processes that take months to complete, property split/combos are a good example. The property tax burden is often misallocated resulting in taxpayer appeals. Judicial appeals because of this inefficiency are costly.
Development is also impeded by a lack of accurate and timely information, especially commercial development. An accurate prediction of a proposed development’s property tax helps advance projects, and in certain situations determines the location of a project. Property taxes can vary by as much as a percent and a half among different school districts. There is an economic value to accurate information.
There is a need for checks and balances among the county officers, which is one of the main sticking points that perpetuates the county offices’ proprietary system.
Tax roll corrections, for example, do need a process that ensures fiscal integrity. This can be accomplished, perhaps more robustly, with modern safety features built into many of the vendor software systems that are available.
Information technology is advancing rapidly, especially in the areas of machine learning and artificial intelligence. The benefits of adopting newer technologies are measurable in the level of service the county treasurer, along with the other officers, can provide. There are numerous jurisdictions around the country that are examples of the possibilities we could attain.
Today, I am still advocating for Pima County to adopt an integrated data system for all property-related functions, which I now realize includes elections as well as property tax.
My opponent, Mr. Ackerley, remains adamantly opposed to solving these data problems as I have proposed and stands firmly behind the outdated information systems his office uses.
The county would better serve its citizens by employing integrated information technology. Let’s look to the future and not be so comfortable in the past.
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