At their meeting on Tuesday, September 10, 2024, Prescott City Council took two separate actions to address concerns expressed by the public about Proposition 478, the sales tax increase to support public safety, scheduled for the November ballot. City Council limited the definition of “Public Safety Services” in City Code to police and fire and also passed a resolution requiring funds to be deposited in a separate revenue account with prescriptions for use, reporting, and public monitoring.
“The goal of Council’s actions today is to address concerns we have heard from citizens,” said Mayor Phil Goode. “We understand that transparency is critical as we ask voters to pass an increase in the transaction privilege (aka “sales”) tax to support public safety infrastructure and staff development. These measures taken today answer the public’s questions and provides additional assurances about Proposition 478.”
The first action, Ordinance 2024-1874, amends the definition of “Public Safety Services” in Prescott City Code. It says “Public Safety Services” “shall mean expenditures from the City’s General Fund, or from any voter approved initiative to increase the City’s transaction privilege tax for public safety services, directed solely to the public safety of life, health, property and the welfare of inhabitants of the City and such expenditures shall only be available to the Prescott Fire Department and Prescott Police Department including dispatch and emergency medical services.”
The Council’s second action, Resolution 2024-1905, states that “all revenue related to Prop478 will be deposited into, and thereafter reviewed, monitored and distributed from a separate revenue account within the General Fund”, that “this information will be reported during all future Council budget workshop meetings,” and that “this information will be readily available for public review throughout the year on the city’s OpenGov platform accessible on the city website.”
About Prop 478
Proposition 478 seeks to improve emergency response times by increasing the Transaction Privilege (sales) tax by .95% to fund fire and police capital projects including fire stations and a police evidence facility. Once capital needs are met, or after ten years, this proposal would reduce the tax to .75%. The remaining .75% would pay for ongoing operations. Ballot language can be found on the City website.
For more information and to take a brief survey about Prop 478, go to ParticipatePrescott.com.
3 thoughts on “Prescott City Council Adds Definition of Public Safety to City Code and Passes Resolution to Address Concerns about Proposal 478”
Note that nothing is mentioned about those who live
outside the city limits of Prescott who would also be required to pay the sales tax increase, but who would still hope to be recipients of emergency services even though they happen to live just outside the city limits but
shop within those same city limits. Residents who live
in the Williamson Valley/Granite Oaks area are prime
examples, among others.
So the money designated for “Public Safety Services” will deposited in a “separate revenue account” within the General fund? Why isn’t the revenue being deposited into its’s own individual account completely disconnected from the general fund?
Could it be that the city council wants to have the opportunity to move the Public Safety Services revenue within the General Fund to other expenses (only in case of the cities needs of course…)
Glad to see that the city council is clarifying what Public Safety Services mean, but what they should really be clarifying is that under absolutely no conditions or circumstances would revenue collected for Public Safety Services be used or applied to any city need other than Public Safety Services.
I along with quite a few other residents here in Prescott 110% support our First Responders and their needs. With that said, I as well as quite a a few other residents here in Prescott know that when we vote for a tax increase, if it is not clearly written into the new revenue (tax) proposal precisely that money is to ONLY be used for its intended cause at some point down the road the city council will find a way to get their hands on it and not use it for what we the people voted it to be used for.
Sorry Prescott City Council. Until we see language that is written into Prop 478 absolutely guaranteeing the money we give you for Public Safety Services will only be used for Public Safety Services you will not get our vote.
Ok, .95% doesn’t sound like too much. Don’t forget, it applies to large purchases, too!! Last time I purchased a car from a local dealer I paid COP $1792 in sales tax. The tax rate has gone down since then, so let’s keep it that way. Do you really think that the police department and the fire department are struggling financially? Please vote no on 478.
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