Pima County Treasurer election: Brian Johnson answers debate questions

Johnson debates his Democratic rival, Sami Hamed, June 8.

The two Democratic candidates for Pima County Treasurer, Brian Johnson and Sami Hamed, debate some of the main issues for county residents on Saturday. Prior to the debate, which was hosted by the Democrats of Greater Tucson and moderated by Curt, the candidates were invited to write down their answers to questions from Curt.

Below are the unedited responses written by Johnson.

Question One: What do you see as a Treasurer’s main duties?

In Arizona, the county Treasurer’s office is best described as the de facto tax collector and the county’s banker. These are the essential duties of the Treasurer:

• Collecting property taxes, for real and personal property, and other revenues from assessments, state funding and other local government revenues. 

• Maintaining accounts for the governmental entities in the county (School districts, fire districts, Pima County Community College, library system, etc.)

• Disbursement of funds to the governmental entities as required. Managing the cash flow so funds are always available as needed.

• Investment of public funds according to statute and regulation ensuring the safety and liquidity of those funds.

• Maintain records and issue reports as required by law and audit regulations. 

One of the essential steps in the tax collection process is to prepare, or assemble, the tax roll and issue tax statements. There is no statutory requirement for the Treasurer to do this; there is no statutory direction for any office in the tax administration system to create the tax roll. Naturally, this function has been the responsibility of the county Treasurer which is how it is done in all the Arizona counties except for Pima. For the past couple of decades, the county administrator had assumed the responsibility for the tax roll. Now, with changes in the county administration, it is still unclear how this process will get done in the future, but the next Treasurer needs to be aware and prepared to manage the inevitable changes.

Question Two: What changes, if any, would you make at the Treasurer’s office?

I see a need for a change in culture in the Treasurer’s office. And that would lead to some structural changes in the office with new units focusing on different aspects of service to the county’s citizens and businesses. Government is a service and that will be the focus of the manner in which I direct the operation of the Treasurer’s office. 

Almost all of the routine accounting and financial transaction functions the Treasurer’s office performs are software driven. A competent IT unit is essential to maintaining those systems. For many of the other employees, they are in clerical positions without a career path to incentivize performance and longevity. That is why the Treasurer’s office staff has dwindled to a couple of dozen employees over the years. The way to transform the situation is by creating responsible positions with which to serve the needs of the people, the community. 

Managing the short-term investments is an area needing improvement. I propose staff dedicated to working with the business community so that we can yield value from those investments that supports local prosperity. The Treasurer’s office has immense potential to be a valuable government resource.

Question 3: The Treasurer is an elected position, but it’s not a policy-making position like a county supervisor. Do you see it as a political office to advance your party’s ideals? Why or why not?

The Treasurer’s office is primarily ministerial, but it does not work in a political vacuum. One area where the Treasurer can have an impact is in the management of short-term investments of public money. I am promoting a Board of Supervisors investment policy, which the BOS hasn’t had one since 1995, to direct the Treasurer’s office in managing those investments in alignment with the Prosperity Initiative. And, as in the 1992 – 1995 investment policy, BOS Policy 16.1, there needs to be a measure of accountability as in quarterly reports. These reports would be made public.

By inviting transparency through accountability, the Treasurer will inevitably work in alignment with the policies of the Board of Supervisors. An example is investment in climate resilience which is an element of the Prosperity Initiative. When we’re paying attention to our investments, we wouldn’t likely be investing in fossil fuel companies like Chevron, which was recently one of the investments listed in the Treasurer’s report.

In a July 2022 Bloomberg article, our state Treasurer stated: “’We have the ability to go to companies that stand for the values that we believe in,’ Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee said in a phone interview.” She went on further to state her Republican values, which I don’t agree with, but this is how politics does get into offices like the Treasurer’s.

Question Four: As Treasurer, you would have to deal with county residents who might not be able to pay their tax bills. How would you deal with overdue tax bills from low-income people?

The Treasurer has a legal responsibility to collect all the property taxes that are due and there are statutory methods to ensure the taxes are paid to fund the various taxing jurisdictions in the county. This question addresses residential property, but delinquency occurs more with the commercial and vacant land classes of property.

 In most cases, low-income households are not homeowners. The property taxes on rental property are collected on a monthly basis from renters as part of their rent. For those who have sufficient income to qualify for home ownership, financing their homes, property taxes are included in their monthly house payments. So, the issue of low-income homeowners struggling to make the twice a year tax payment isn’t that prevalent.

The one group of homeowners that may have an issue with paying property taxes are seniors on a fixed income who own their homes outright, thereby having to pay the taxes directly to the Treasurer’s office in October and April. For those seniors, there is a Senior Property Valuation Protection program administered by the Assessor’s office. There are other relief programs for distinct groups of homeowners, like disabled veterans, which are also administered through the assessor’s office. The reason the Assessor, and not the Treasurer, is responsible for the relief programs is because the valuation is the only adjustable element of the property tax. The rates, which are the results of the levies, are immutable once established on the third Monday of August.

The Treasurer does have authority to establish payment programs, but the taxes and interest accrued through the delinquency cannot be mitigated or in any way diminished. Since it is the property, not the individual, that owes the tax, there is nothing the Treasurer can do legally for the individual. Still, there are also outside agencies that can help low-income property owners, especially for seniors, like the Pima Council on Aging.

Question Five: The tax system is complicated. What steps would you take to educate the public about how the system works?

Title 42 of the Arizona Revised Statutes is a complicated set of processes and rules that govern taxation in Arizona, and property tax consumes a good portion of it. A search for ‘county Treasurer’ yields 345 instances in which the Treasurer is referred to. Educating the Treasurer’s office staff of all the nuances contained in the statutes would alone be an immense undertaking. But a general understanding of how property tax is arrived at and applied should be explained to the public by the Treasurer and the office staff. 

There is a definite need for accessibility to information and understanding of property taxes. It will require a coordinated effort with the Assessor’s office and the BOS to explain how the property taxes are arrived at and what they are there for. Currently, the county administration has a property tax hot line that goes to the tax assembly unit in the Finance Department. Then, calls are directed to either the Treasurer or Assessor. Often this run-around causes frustration.

I will propose that the Assessor and Treasurer integrate their data systems, so information is more accessible to anyone looking to plan a commercial or residential development, or to simply understand how an individual’s taxes are consistent in their neighborhood. The recorder’s office has already engaged with a software vendor, Tyler Technologies, to maintain the integrity of property records. The assessor’s office has used them to a certain extent and the superintendent of schools has also adopted elements of Tyler’s all-government data structuring. The Treasurer also needs to get on-board with Tyler Technology software. 

Once the property tax data is accessible across the different offices and departments, it can be presented to the public through Pima Maps. There’s a tremendous amount of opportunity with today’s technology to make property tax information accessible and understandable. And staff positions can be developed on career paths where the employees can be a resource to the community. County government is a service organization, and I will run the Treasurer’s office accordingly.