TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Prop 414 would have given the City of Tucson about $800 million dollars over ten years through a half-cent sales tax. After voters rejected it on Tuesday, the City of Tucson is now going back to the drawing board to think about how to generate the proposed money.
This all comes at a time when the city is facing a revenue reduction of about $28 million.
Tim Thomure, the Tucson city manager, said he has to come up with a plan by April 22, when he will present next year’s fiscal budget.
“We thought we had made the right ask and clearly the voters disagreed,” Thomure said.
Next fiscal year starts on July 1, and by then, Thomure said the city could move forward with some of Prop 414’s proposals.
“A shortfall of not having Prop 414 is layered on top of the shortfall we already had,” Thomure described the situation they’re in. “Not only address the financial challenges we already had, but we have to do some more in that budget than what we had thought.”
The budget shortfall the city is facing is due to flat tax changes the Arizona legislature made in recent years. That means the city has less revenue coming in.
“It is entirely possible that the mayor and council will reassess and put another ask before the voters,” Thomure said.
Thomure said the most direct way for the city to generate money is through another proposed sales tax.
“We’ve got a very strong relationship with our community, with our voters, as evidenced by past ballot propositions that we’ve put on,” Thomure said.
Even though a property tax could help with some of Prop 414’s proposals, he said it would be a tougher avenue.
A property tax is limited by state statutes and Thomure said it’s also limited by the city’s charter. He said a significant amount of money would not be generated by a property tax compared to a sales tax.
A property tax would be able to pay for major programs but not personnel. It has to pay back debt, and that debt has to be used to build capital projects.
There’s not a lot that a property tax could pay for in terms of Prop 414’s proposals, but it would still have to go back to the voters.
One of the Prop 414's capital investments it could go towards is an infill station on the Northwest side for the Tucson Fire Department. Prop 414 would have put $12 million towards that.
However, since it didn’t pass, and because TFD is facing an increased call volume while having less firefighters compared to 2008, Thomure is proposing to expand the number of firefighters.
“We need to have more personnel able to respond to calls than we have today,” he said.
A property tax could also go towards a Southeast station for the Tucson Police Department and TFD, which Prop 414 also proposed.
Next Tuesday the mayor and city council are going to be talking about the budget and Thomure said they’re going to have a bigger discussion about Prop 414 next month.
Thomure said they’re going to have to answer questions like how they’re going to propose a new financial decision for voters. He said the city could make tweaks to Prop 414’s language like adjusting the financial proposal and duration.
“The voters had their voice clearly heard," he said. "What we're saying is where were we not listening? Where were we not in step with our voters in Tucson such that we had that outcome on Tuesday.”
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
