President’s Message March 2014

I thought it was time to call the attention of homeowners and businesses in CRCA to a portion of your property taxes for which you receive no benefit- what I would call a “taxation without representation” sort of thing. I am referring to the part of your tax bill that reads “CMID”. This CMID tax is assessed by the Cortaro Marana Irrigation District for which you are levied $69 per acre (or percentage of an acre) on your property taxes each year.

CMID (aka Cortaro Water Users Association) has been in existence since 1919 and services approximately 70 irrigation customers. Before Continental Ranch was first developed in the mid-80’s, the area was farmland owned by lettuce grower Bud Antle. I am sure that Mr. Antle used the services of CMID to water his fields. I find it quite disturbing that over 90% of CRCA- as well as the businesses at the Arizona Pavilions- are included in the CMID water district for tax purposes and we receive nothing in return other than the privilege of offsetting some costs to the 70 customers who use CMID water for irrigation. Doing a rough calculation CMID receives in excess of $70,000 a year from properties in CRCA and give nothing back to us in return.

I have included a map in this newsletter showing the boundaries of CMID for taxation purposes. Is there anything we can do to stop paying for something we receive no benefit from? We can petition the Pima County Board of Supervisors to be excluded from this taxing district. If you are interested in lowering your tax bill please contact the office for a petition. This will not happen without a lot of homeowners voicing their opinion.