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Statement from Assessor Eddie Cook Regarding Project MARS

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I am happy to announce the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously this morning to approve Project Change Request 05 (PCR 05) for Project MARS. This change in the contract with the project vendor, Esri Canada, gives us the time and resources we need to develop and launch Project MARS successfully.

PCR 05 includes the following:

• Adjusting from two go-live dates – one in February 2021 and one in August 2021 – to a single go-live date in February 2022. This will ensure all functionalities of the new system are tested, working, and ready to go on day one.
• Strengthening our testing and training programs. We selected a diverse group of our team members to serve as mission specialists and business testers who will work with the Project MARS group to enhance processes and workflows and create a system that meets our needs for years to come.
• Addresses critical functionality to effectively run our operations and meet statutory obligations, including a litigation tracking system, legal class verification, appeals scheduling, comparable sales, appeals packet and decision calculator processing, and much more.
• Creating a retainage structure to reinforce and ensure high-quality vendor performance.
• A clearly defined service level agreement for the product post-launch.

Thank you to everyone who has been involved in developing PCR 05 and Project MARS and bringing it to life. We have a great training plan in place that is scheduled to begin next month for all team members. Virtual training will continue for the next 15 months so that all team members have the opportunity to learn the program’s new features and functionalities to be able to use it effectively.

I am excited to see the training and implementation of Project MARS through its goal, and I am positive we will produce a great product in February 2022. Thank you for your continued hard work!

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Read Our Annual Report

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Curious about what we do, how we do it, and some of our accomplishments and great work we’ve done over the past year? Take a look at our annual report for an overview of the Assessor’s Office.

We hope you enjoy learning more about the work we do for property owners and Maricopa County residents!

View the Annual Report

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Business Personal Property Appeals Accepted Electronically

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We are currently accepting Business Personal Property appeals by email. Please read below for detailed instructions on how to submit your appeal via email. The deadline to submit your Business Personal Property appeal is Monday, Sept. 21.

You will receive an auto-reply acknowledging we have received your appeal; no further response will come from this email address. You will receive communication from a member of our team in the days following your submission.

• Complete the Personal Property appeal form.
• Email asrappeals@maricopa.gov with the subject line: 2021 Appeal Account Number (insert your account number here) with your appeal and supporting documentation attached.
• Only one appeal per email. If you have multiple accounts, you must submit a separate email for each appeal.

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Appeals Completed Two Weeks Ahead of Deadline

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Handling appeals from more than 3,000 property owners is a challenge in itself. Each property owner is given their opportunity to be heard, present evidence to support the basis on which property was valued improperly or misclassified, and a decision is rendered and mailed to the property owner.

Facing new challenges, our team created innovative solutions to keep everyone safe and healthy while meeting our statutory deadlines. For the first time, all requested meetings were conducted over the phone, and our team processed and mailed all decisions nearly two weeks ahead of the statutory deadline.

In a typical year, property owners come downtown to visit our office and have their appeal heard in person. With 2020 being far from typical, our team transitioned appeals to be heard over the phone. More than 1,177 meetings were held virtually over the last two months, approximately 10% more than last year. Many property owners enjoyed the telephone appeal process, appreciating not having to come downtown and trying to find accessible transportation or parking nearby.

Once the appeal was heard, a decision was rendered and mailed to the property owner. We are proud to announce all appeals have been heard, processed, and mailed ahead of the Aug. 15 deadline!

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Submit Your Appeal Electronically

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We are currently accepting personal property mobile home appeals by email. Please read below for detailed instructions on how to submit your appeal via email.

• Complete the Personal Property appeal form.


• Email asrappeals@maricopa.gov with the subject line: 2021 Appeal Account Number (insert your account number here) with your appeal and supporting documentation attached.


• Only one appeal per email. If you have multiple accounts, you must submit a separate email for each appeal.

You will receive an auto-reply acknowledging we have received your appeal; no further response will come from this email address. You will receive communication from a member of our team in the days following your submission.

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Statement From Assessor Eddie Cook

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I vow that our team at the Maricopa County Assessor's Office will continue to handle adversity with integrity and respect. Our focus remains to provide property owners and residents of Maricopa County with fair and equitable valuations. We continue to meet every constitutional and statutory requirement and are committed to providing exceptional customer service to every one of our constituents.

I am proud of our team's commitment, accomplishments, innovative solutions, and award-winning projects that help serve Maricopa County more efficiently and effectively. We have come together over the last four months as one team and shown what this office is truly capable of.

I am proud to lead this team, and I am confident they will continue to serve Maricopa County in the highest regard.

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Project Green Line Wins National Award

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The awards continue to come in for Project Green Line! The project that has helped serve Maricopa County property owners more effectively and efficiently has now been recognized on a national level.

Project Green Line was awarded the National Association of Counties (NACo) Achievement Award in the category of County Administration and Management. The awards honor innovative, effective county government programs that strengthen services for residents.

The Property Ownership and GIS Mapping Division is responsible for processing recorded documents that transfer, split, or combine real property, mapping new subdivisions in the fastest-growing county in the country, and helps property owners and land developers obtain new parcel numbers and permits quickly and efficiently.

Project Green Line, implemented in March 2018, was created to streamline processes and improve efficiency throughout the department. The project was based on Lean and Six Sigma methodologies. While widely embraced in the private sector, Lean and Six Sigma are seldom utilized in the public sector. However, we believe we have a moral obligation to improve efficiency even more so than private entities due to our commitment to serve the public.

Project Green Line took a four-step approach:

1. Streamline processes
2. Analyze staff performance and establish performance metrics
3. Improve quality control measures
4. Evaluate and renovate job-related training

Since implementation, the department has seen a double-digit percentage decrease in the average time to transfer property ownership and double-digit percentage increases in the number of splits and subdivisions mapped.

This is the third recognition for Project Green line. Last year, the project won the Arizona Association of Counties (AACo) Summit Award in County Administration, Finance & Management, and the distinguished Urban Innovation Merit Award.

Congratulations to Robin St. Germain and Ken Errico for their hard work on this project!

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Assessor Eddie Cook Reviews His First 90 Days in Office

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It has been nearly three months since the Board of Supervisors unanimously decided to appoint me as your new Assessor. I’m very humbled and honored to continue serving as a public servant for the greater county. My business objective is to bring the wonderful corporate best practices that I’ve help lead in the Town of Gilbert to transform an organization to become a high-performance team while providing the highest quality of service at the lowest cost to the taxpayer. These three months have been filled with challenges, opportunities, and new ways of work that we never thought would be necessary.

My tenure began as the team was in the final steps of a successful Notice of Value delivery to Maricopa County property owners. I made sure we celebrated this accomplishment; we came together to thank everyone for their hard work, and I was able to meet dozens of team members. It was something that had not happened in previous years and went a long way toward developing a one team culture.

Little did I know that this celebration would be one of the last interactions we would have as a group for a long time. Three weeks later, our office was transitioning to working remotely and developing ways to continue to serve the public electronically and over the phone. I’m incredibly proud of the way our team has handled this crisis and has created innovative solutions that have enabled us to continue our mission.

This challenge has given us the opportunity to not only develop new workflow methods but also look into internal processes to determine how we can serve the public more efficiently and effectively. Last month, the Board of Supervisors approved the elimination of the rental registration fee. While we will continue to maintain record of the thousands of rental properties throughout the county, owners will no longer have to pay the $10 fee that accompanied their registration form.

Our leadership team, led by Chief Deputy Assessor Dawn Marie Buckland and I, will continue to explore process changes that will benefit our team, property owners, and residents over the next few months. Along with these changes, we are performing a SWOT analysis to identify our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to our office. These will be beneficial to know and can make changes accordingly to develop our team and continue toward our goal of being the leader in the assessment industry.

One of our major focuses will be to educate the public on what we do, how we do it, and what options property owners have. It’s no secret that we’re often confused with the Treasurer's Office as the people who collect or set taxes. With the current state of our economy, it is more important than ever that property owners understand what their Notice of Value means, what the appeal process is, and any other issues they may have with the assessment of their property.

The next few months are sure to bring challenges, but we are ready to take on what is ahead. We are one team committed to serve Maricopa County, and I am proud to lead.

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Rental Registration Fee Eliminated

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Owners of rental property in Maricopa County will no longer pay to register their property with the Maricopa County Assessor's Office as of May 1.

Arizona state statute requires property owners to register all rental property with their respective assessor's office. Since 2008, the Maricopa County Assessors Office has issued a $10 fee with this registration. Assessor Eddie Cook recommended this fee be eliminated, and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors approved this recommendation at their meeting Wednesday, April 8.

"One of my main goals as Assessor is to explore new ways to improve business processes within the office to make sure we are a best-in-class organization," Assessor Cook said. "Eliminating this fee is a great start to improving our efficiency to ensure we are serving property owners and residents to the best of our ability."

The Assessor's Office will continue to track rental properties, rental ownership details and property classification information so municipalities and the public can be provided with this information upon request.