By Heather Smathers | Florence Reminder
As Superior prepares for a renewed boom in the mining industry, officials are trying to rid the small town of blighted buildings.
Town Manager Todd Pryor has made blight cleanup a top priority for the Pinal County town, but unfortunately limited time and resources, coupled with the inability of town officials to take action, have slowed the process considerably.
State tax law encourages blight, Pryor argues, saying property owners are incentivized to keep properties in disrepair because the property tax obligation for a blighted property is significantly lower than one that is clean and remodeled.
“The owners of these properties have been able to game the tax system. Many of the key downtown buildings in our communities have been set at very low tax rates. This means that a building paying thousands per year may be next to one paying just hundreds,” Pryor said.
