Maricopa County has decided to push back against the multi-million dollar contributions the state has forced it and four other counties to provide during the past three fiscal years to help fill holes in the budget.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted Nov. 14 to lobby against the forced donation, which the state began requiring of Maricopa and Pima counties in fiscal year 2009. In FY2012, the state reduced the payment amount from the two counties after they complained, but then started requiring money from Mohave, Pinal and Yavapai counties.

The state received $26.3 million from Maricopa County at the beginning of FY 2012, according to Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) spokesman Stefan Shepherd. In addition, Mohave, Pima, Pinal and Yavapai counties contributed a combined $12.3 million.

Maricopa County District 2 Supervisor Don Stapley voiced the strongest objection to the counties giving the state money. He said the contributions were a bad idea in the first place and counties should not be offering anything. His goal is to eliminate the contributions entirely for the FY 2013 budget.

“It’s essentially double taxation for Maricopa County taxpayers. It requires them to pay twice for state services, and that’s really bad budgeting policy. People here should be really unhappy,” Stapley said.

Stapley said the contribution, plus shifts of program responsibilities to the county, lost revenue streams and Highway User Revenue Fund sweeps have added up to a $94.1 million burden on Maricopa County this year.

Richard Bohan, Maricopa County government relations director, told the Board of Supervisors he wanted to “highly reduce” county contributions for fiscal year 2013, if not eliminate them altogether.

Bohan told the Arizona Capitol Times the counties would consider contributing to the state budget in case of an emergency, but that the budget should not automatically include money from the counties.

“We’re going to ask the JLBC for a zero in the budget, and if they get into crunch time and need more money, maybe a contribution would be reasonable. But we want to wait to see,” Bohan said.

Rep. John Kavanagh, who serves as JLBC chairman, said as the economy improves the state will demand less of counties, but he stopped short of saying the contribution would end in FY 2013.

“As the economy returns — and it is returning — we’re going to decrease our reliance on the counties,” he said. “Whether everything is taken out remains to be seen.”

Kavanagh said there will at least be a “significant decrease” this year.

Bohan said he thought some state legislators wanted the counties to contribute so they could tout the state’s lack of a property tax while still benefiting from county property taxes. The state phased out its property tax in the mid-1990s, Shepherd said.

“The state had a property tax and got rid of it,” Bohan said. “So they like to say they don’t have a property tax but this is a way to keep getting revenue from it.”

Kavanagh, however, said the county contributions were always intended as a temporary supplement to the state budget.

“Our reliance on counties was always viewed as short-term,” he said. “Unfortunately, a lot of taxes end up being long-term.”

The state began requiring money from Maricopa and Pima counties in FY 2009. Bohan said the counties complained about the fee, so the state lowered the contribution of those two counties and added the three others in FY 2012.

Bohan said he thought the recent ouster of Senate President Russell Pearce could help the counties’ cause. He said the Legislature would be more focused on the economy under new Senate President Steve Pierce and House Speaker Andy Tobin.

“They’ll be a lot more pragmatic than they were with (Pearce),” Bohan said. “They’ll be working diligently and working to make the state more attractive to businesses. I expect Pierce and Tobin to have the Senate and House working toward people’s needs.”