Glossary · Thresholds & Valuation
Valuation year
In short
The year an assessor's value belongs to. It matters because the residential threshold asks for the most recent value as of two different dates, and takes the higher.
In full
For real property the valuation year is the calendar year preceding the year in which taxes are levied, and the valuation date within it is January 1. The assessor determines full cash value as of January 1 for the following year's roll, which is why a value carries a year label and why the current figure is always describing a date already past.
The label matters for one reason. A.R.S. § 42-5075(S)(1)(a) asks for the most recent full cash value as of the date of any bid for the work, or the date of the contract, whichever value is higher. That is a comparison of two lookups, not a single retrieval.
Where the two dates are separated by a new valuation — notices go out before March 1 each year — they return different figures, and the statute takes the higher one. The higher value is the larger denominator, which is the larger threshold, which is the reading that favors alteration status.
An intake that records a single valuation is under-specified and will tend toward the lower figure. ADOR's worksheet records the year alongside the value at step 2c, with columns for Property Tax Value and Valuation Year, which is the right shape — but the worksheet asks for one value where the statute asks for two.
The commercial threshold sidesteps all of this. It is a flat $750,000 with no valuation and no year.
A.R.S. §§ 42-11001(19), (20), 42-13051(B)(2), 42-15101(A), 42-5075(S)(1)(a); ADOR Evaluating Mixed Construction Contracts worksheet, step 2c