School districts and cities use taxpayer dollars to pay Washington County property taxes.
Local public entities can own real estate and be exempt from taxation, but when that land is not used for a public purpose, the entity must pay property tax, according to County Assessor Jeff Williams.
By The Numbers
Public Properties Taxed By Washington County
The information below shows the market value of real estate properties owned by school districts, cities and Washington County that are taxed by the county.
Cities
Elkins: 1 parcel, $36,400
Elm Springs: 2 parcels, $65,950
Farmington: 11 parcels, $588,150
Fayetteville: 129 parcels, $7,016,850
Greenland: 2 parcels, $79,400
Lincoln: 8 parcels, $173,950
Springdale: 27 parcels, $2,609,950
West Fork: 11 parcels, $75,900
Winslow: 5 parcels, $29,500
School Districts
Fayetteville: 9 parcels, $609,300
Springdale: 18 parcels, $1,448,200
Farmington: 3 parcels, $15,400
West Fork: 1 parcel, $50,450
Lincoln: 3 parcels, $58,850
County
Washington County: 3 parcels, $17,550
Source: Washington County
Five school districts own land worth a combined market value of $2.2 million that is taxed by the county, according to county records. Nine cities own a combined $10.7 million in property. The county owns $17,550 in properties that are not tax exempt.
For instance, Springdale owns a couple of airplane hangars at the city’s airport, some land for a planned industrial park and rents two properties at J.B. Hunt Park to employees who work as groundskeepers, officials said.
Tax payments are low, said Wyman Morgan, director of finance and administration. The county taxes 20 percent of a property’s market value.
“I’d say it’s very minimal,” Morgan said. “We don’t have much property that falls into the (tax exempt) category.”
The city pays about $3,500 in annual taxes for the two rental properties, $6,300 for the corporate hangars and about $2,150 for the land, said Laura Favorite, city finance director.
The Fayetteville School District paid $3,607 in property taxes for 2012 on taxable real estate valued at $609,300. The district owns 9.5 acres on Dean Solomon Road.
“It’s mostly property that we purchased for planning purposes,” said Lisa Morstad, chief financial officer. The property could be used for a new school as the city grows, Morstad said.
University of Arkansas officials have said they are immune from county taxation because the university and all its property belongs to the state. State laws keep local entities from taxing state owned properties, attorneys for the university have said.
Scott Varady, university associate general counsel, told the county’s Equalization Board last week the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled the university is “referred to as an instrument of the state as performance of governmental work.”
Every year the board hears appeals from owners who dispute property values and tax assessments by the assessor’s office. The board finished this month 113 appointments from property owners who disputed 808 parcels of property, according to the County Clerk’s Office.
“It makes no sense to tax the state which then has to turn around and pose that tax in another way to someone else whether it’s to through the legislature imposing taxes that are appropriated to the university or whether it’s the university having to raise tuition and fees to students,” Varady said.