valuation; golf courses
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Committee on Ways and Means |
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Committee on Commerce and Economic Development |
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Committee on Appropriation |
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Caucus and COW |
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Third Read |
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As Passed the House |
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HB 2305 changes the valuation of golf courses for property tax purposes.
Since 1987, statutes have required that golf courses be uniformly valued based on guidelines prescribed by the Department of Revenue (DOR). The standard appraisal methods and techniques used to value property are market data, reproductive cost, and capitalization of income. These three approaches to property valuation all look to the market for some factor in arriving at a final valuation.
In November of 1993, the Superior Court of Maricopa County ruled that a portion of the statute governing golf course valuation was “unconstitutionally vague.” Specifically, the court found that the valuation limitation clause “without any allowance for urban or market influences” is inherently contradictory with Title 42, which requires property valuation to be a market value derived from the use of standard appraisal methods and techniques.
In 1994, the legislature set the uniform value at $500 per acre, the value at which it currently stands. The current golf course valuation method is:
Per acre value + golf course improvements + value of structures
The value of golf course improvements is established by DOR’s assessment practices manual for golf course assessment. Assessors value structures by established methods using replacement cost minus depreciation. The current per acre value is set in statute at $500. HB 2305 will increase the statutory acre value to $1,000.