Committee OKs bill letting counties sell tax-deeded parcels to adjacent owners, HOAs

The Senate Finance Committee on Jan. 24 voted unanimously to return Senate Bill 1070 with a do-pass recommendation. The bill amends the process counties use to dispose of tax-deeded real property held by the state.

Under SB 1070, a county board of supervisors may sell tax-deeded parcels to an adjacent owner of agricultural or commercial property or directly to a homeowners association if the parcel is part of a common area that the HOA maintains. If multiple contiguous owners seek purchase, the county must favor an offer demonstrating common, recent ownership with the sale parcel. The bill also allows counties to sell previously auctioned but unsold tax-deeded property "over the counter" and to establish procedures for these sales.

John Allen, Maricopa County Treasurer, described examples from maps and photos in a committee handout: parcels that sit between privately owned lots, parcels maintained by an HOA, and small parcels whose legal descriptions were broken up when a development was created. Allen said the change would let counties offer these parcels directly to the parties most likely to use them, noting it would consolidate billing where two small tax bills previously existed and make management simpler. "This bill just says, we can approach you and say, would you like to have this piece of property," Allen said, adding the measure is chiefly a clean-up to put property in "the proper hands and start collecting the taxes on it."

Jen Morrison with the Arizona Association of Counties explained that these are tax-deeded parcels — property already deeded to the state after the tax-lien process — and that the change targets a relatively small number of leftover parcels that cause administrative burdens.

Committee members voted 6–0 to return SB 1070 with a do-pass recommendation.