Drafting

Parceling
The Assessor’s Office receives copies of the documents that affect real property. These documents are sorted and reviewed to determine the action intended. Most are simple transfers of real property, and some are intended to divide properties.

Incorrect or Missing Legal Descriptions

If the legal description included is incorrect or missing the property cannot be transferred in the Assessor records. An attempt is made to contact the grantee or organization that prepared the document to resolve the deficiency.

To correct a document that has incorrect or missing legal description one should rerecord the original document with the correct information. Contact the person or organization that prepared the document and have them make the necessary changes and re-record the document(s).

Property Divisions & Combinations

By the Arizona Revised Statues, any time property boundaries are changed the Assessor is required to assign new parcel numbers in a future valuation year. This is done so the tax payer can be notified of the value and given an opportunity to appeal that value.

The original owner will receive the tax bill for the mother parcel up to the newly determined valuation year. It is the owner(s) responsibility to see that taxes are paid on their portion of the mother parcel up to the valuation year of the new parcels. This can be done by contacting the original owner to pay your portion of the tax bill, or by making a payment towards the mother parcel at the Treasurer’s Office.

New Subdivision
New subdivisions are added to the tax rolls using much of the same criteria as a standard land division.

Tax Area Codes
Tax area codes are created and maintained by the Drafting Division. Every parcel in Santa Cruz County has an area code. These area codes contain the individual taxing authorities that may levy a tax on a property. Examples of taxing authorities are: