In Paradise Valley, Your Property Tax Rate Follows the School District Line, Not the Town

Paradise Valley levies no town property tax, and that is accurate. Your property tax bill there is set by something else entirely. Under Maricopa County's 2026 rate table, the town has two tax areas, and the combined residential rate in one is about double the rate in the other. The dividing line is the school district boundary. The Town has nothing to do with it.

The second half of this story is on the November 3 ballot. Paradise Valley has no trouble raising money. Its constraint is a state spending formula built on 1979–80 budgets. Propositions 426 and 427 ask voters whether the Town may spend more of the revenue it already brings in. If you're comparing Paradise Valley with Scottsdale or Arcadia, both halves affect what owning a home here costs and what you get for it.

Two rows in the county table carry the Paradise Valley name

Maricopa County's 2026 tax rate table lists two tax area codes with Paradise Valley as the city. In each one, the Paradise Valley rates exactly match the rates for unincorporated land in the same school districts. In other words, the Town adds nothing. The county's jurisdiction schedule lists the Town of Paradise Valley's own primary and secondary rates at 0.0000.

Here is how the two Paradise Valley areas compare with their neighboring cities for tax year 2026. The combined column adds the approximate residential primary rate to the secondary rate.

In both school districts, the Paradise Valley row comes in below the neighboring city row. That gap is what "no town property tax" means in practice. The gap between the two Paradise Valley rows is wider, though. A home in area 141100 carries a combined residential rate about twice that of a home in area 481100, even though both have a Paradise Valley address. A buyer who compares Paradise Valley with Scottsdale using the town name alone can get the answer backwards. The Scottsdale Unified side of Paradise Valley comes in under Scottsdale proper. The Creighton and Phoenix Union side comes in well above it.

These rates are applied per $100 of assessed value. Arizona law sets residential assessed value at 10% of the property's full cash value or limited value, whichever applies. The Arizona Department of Revenue explains that the tax equals assessed value multiplied by the overall rate. For a specific home, the tax area code on the parcel record decides which row applies, so look it up before you rely on the town-wide reputation.

Where the Town's money comes from

A town that collects no property tax depends heavily on sales tax. Paradise Valley's adopted FY 2026–27 budget states that the Town does not levy property taxes. It estimates $52,964,921 in General Fund revenue for the fiscal year that runs July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. Transaction privilege tax, Arizona's version of a sales tax, accounts for $37,678,398 of that, or about 71%. State-shared revenue adds another $5,367,047.

Resorts carry a large share of that sales tax. On its city profile for Paradise Valley, the Department of Revenue lists a 2.50% hotel transaction privilege tax plus an additional 3.40% hotel/motel tax. The budget doesn't separate the resort portion from the rest of the sales tax total. Even so, the Town's own explanation of its costs keeps coming back to resorts, as the next section shows.

Some services also run on fees. The Fire Services fund expects $3,248,000 from charges for services in FY 2026–27 and budgets $5,191,984 in fire expenditures. A $1,300,000 transfer from the General Fund covers much of the difference. So a service that looks fee-funded on paper still draws on sales tax revenue.

A town that can collect more than it is allowed to spend

The constraint comes from the state. In 1980, Arizona voters added an annual expenditure limit for every city, county, and town to the Arizona Constitution. The base year is fiscal 1979–80, and the limit is adjusted each year for population and inflation. The Arizona Auditor General notes that the state Economic Estimates Commission recalculates each limit every year. If a town spends past its limit without voter approval, the state can withhold its share of urban revenue-sharing money.

The cap restricts spending only. It doesn't touch revenue. The Town's official publicity pamphlet for the election explains why Paradise Valley in particular strains against the formula. Its population grows very little, while its services respond to residential construction and rebuilding, resort additions and renovations, visitors, and through-traffic from neighboring cities. Many homeowners don't use Paradise Valley as their primary residence, so the Census doesn't count them, yet they still rely on Town services. The pamphlet adds that pension costs and construction costs, two of the Town's largest expenses, rise faster than the inflation figure in the formula.

The squeeze shows up in the current budget. For FY 2026–27, $47,956,354 of spending counts against a limit of $48,281,082, which leaves about $325,000 of room. Total spending across all funds is $68,677,354, because certain categories are excluded from the cap. Overspending would put state-shared revenue at risk, and the pamphlet puts that at $5,267,070 in fiscal 2025, or 7.6% of the revenue the Town used for operations and infrastructure.

Paradise Valley has been here before. Voters raised the base limit in 2000, 2006, and 2016, and the pamphlet reports that 84 of Arizona's 92 municipalities have adjusted their limits at least once.

Two measures aimed at the same squeeze

The Town Council put two separate questions on the November 3 ballot. Voters may approve either one, both, or neither.

• Proposition 426 would permanently raise the Town's 1979–80 base by $3,940,190. Measured in today's dollars, the pamphlet estimates the FY 2027–28 limit would rise by $20 million, from $51,702,050 to $71,702,050. The Council first referred an adjustment of $4,219,372 in February. In June, it reduced the figure after updated population and inflation numbers showed the original amount would exceed $20 million.
• Proposition 427 would set up a Capital Projects Accumulation Fund. The Council could move future surplus revenue into the fund, and spending from it on land, buildings, and infrastructure would fall outside the cap. Money already in the General Fund balance couldn't be transferred in.

The filed arguments show the two measures don't line up as neatly as a single package would. Mayor Mark Stanton wrote in favor of both. On Proposition 426, he argues it would let the Town "spend the revenue it already collects." He warns that if it fails, the Town could face infrastructure delays, higher public safety costs, or bond financing. Councilmember Anna Thomasson wrote in favor of Proposition 427 only. She says the Town generated $88 million in surplus revenue over the last five years "thanks to our hospitality revenue." Her argument is that moving capital spending out of the cap would free up room for regular operations, "rendering a permanent base adjustment unnecessary." Her letter cites $17 million in capital improvements in the current budget. The adopted FY 2026–27 budget schedules $15,916,280 in capital project fund spending, contingency included. No arguments against either measure were filed.

The Paradise Valley Independent reported that Proposition 426 took up much of the conversation at Mayor Stanton's October 9 community coffee at Town Hall.

What the vote changes for an owner, and what it leaves alone

According to the Town, neither proposition creates a new tax or raises an existing one, and the Council must still adopt a balanced budget every year. The county rates in the table above are set by county, school, and other districts, and the Town's own rate stays at zero either way.

The vote matters more for timing and for how projects get paid for. The Town's five-year Capital Improvement Program covers sewer repairs, drainage, power line undergrounding, street and intersection work, and police and fire facilities. If the base adjustment fails, the pamphlet says the Town may delay infrastructure projects or issue bonds. Bond proceeds don't count against the cap, but they come with interest and repayment obligations. Buyers pricing a home on a street slated for undergrounding or drainage work have a direct reason to follow the outcome.

The pamphlet lists the key dates. Tuesday, October 27, is the last recommended day to mail a ballot back. Mailed ballots must arrive by 7 p.m. on November 3, and a ballot postmarked on Election Day won't be counted. In-person voting on Election Day runs 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 6401 E. Lincoln Drive, and at Camelback Bible Church, 3900 E. Stanford Drive. Voters can also use any Maricopa County vote center.

This post is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Confirm how these rates and measures apply to your own property with a qualified tax professional or the county.

Common Questions

Does Paradise Valley really have no property tax? The Town itself levies none, and its rate in the county's 2026 table is 0.0000. Owners still pay primary and secondary property taxes to the county, school districts, and other taxing jurisdictions.

Why do two homes in Paradise Valley have such different rates? Each home falls in a tax area defined by its school districts. In 2026, area 481100 (Scottsdale Unified) has a combined residential rate of about 4.94 per $100 of assessed value, and area 141100 (Creighton and Phoenix Union) has about 9.81.

If Proposition 426 passes, will my taxes go up? The Town says no. The measure raises the amount the Town may spend from revenue it already collects, and the Town levies no property tax.

If you're weighing a Paradise Valley home and want to know which side of the district line it sits on and what that means for carrying costs, Camille Kennard can pull the parcel details and walk through the numbers with you. Start with a free home valuation, and bring your questions about the tax area along with it.