Pima County, the sole Arizona county lacking a sales tax, unanimously approved the creation of an exploratory committee to research instituting a county sales tax recently.

Without sales tax income, many county vendors are paid with funds from property taxes. Consequently, Pima County landowners currently pay the state’s highest combined property tax rate, according to a press release.

The sales tax advisory committee will consist of 18 members appointed from agencies representative of the population and government.

Plans include at least seven meetings for obtaining public input. The committee will discuss specifics about the exact rate, possible time limitations and whether the tax should be used for infrastructure repairs. Specifically, the group will strive to determine the best solution for balancing and coordinating road repair costs with property tax reductions.

Committee members will be tasked with creating a report by March for the five-member Pima County board of supervisors to consider it before fiscal 2019 budget planning.

“State law allows for counties to adopt a sales tax, but adoption requires a unanimous vote of the board,” according to the release.