A coalition of Prescott small business owners and citizens are promoting a “No on 478” vote so that problems with the funding mechanism for critical Public Safety services can be fixed.
The City of Prescott needs to expand its Public Safety services to accommodate its recent growth in population. However, the question of funding has come under scrutiny as the Prescott City Council proposes a regressive and substantial increase in city sales taxes. Sales taxes hit seniors, veterans and families the hardest who are already struggling with the high costs of necessities like food, clothing and rent.
We are a coalition that opposes Prop 478 as it’s currently written. This is NOT a partisan issue. We simply want to inform the community so they understand there are other funding options that put the burden where it belongs – on growth.
To summarize, we believe a better solution is irrevocable funding via a small sales taxes that would pay for our existing Public Safety services coupled with an increase in impact fees charged to residents when they purchase new homes. This puts the burden for future needs where it belongs – with the people who are causing our expansion and the need for more services. The smaller increase in sales tax is fair since it funds the services we already have.
To protect police and fire, we insist that funding allocations are codified by percentage, are irrevocable and firewalled into the budget to assure that future councils don’t play “fast and loose” with our Public Service monies. In addition, language needs to be included to assure that those funds aren’t used as offsets to fund unrelated programs. We’ve seen this happen in other states and it can be a ‘money grab’. Finally, we ask that the city codify a sunset clause (at no more than 10 years as the council recommends) that ends the sales tax increase.
Coalition members have unanimously chosen to remain anonymous given the heightened political tensions that are prevalent in our city. We wish to avoid an “us v them” mentality. We respect our council and their hard work. We just believe there’s a better solution.
We encourage voters to read the detailed proposal on our website, noto478.com
10 thoughts on “Private Citizens Who Support Police & Fire Unite to Encourage “NO on 478””
The Biden – Harris -Obama regime have created a monster of cost increases which automatically raised the sales tax. This increase should have added Millions to the Prescott fiscal income. However, as this group says, police and fire (plus roads) are the three key items we need local government for; little more.
So, I support the revision of the ballot measure to secure a premium on pay and benefits for fire and police pay and benefits. And, hopefully added development fees will provide funding for new facilities and equipment for our public safety.
The City can afford basketball courts and miles of sidewalks that no one uses but can not afford a fire station? Current City management thinks money grows on trees.
I agree with you Kent H. Our roads are horrible, the parking is impossible, and only a handful of people use the miles and miles of trails. The City wastes more money than they have. Hotels going up all over and all so the City can get more money. Three new BIG hotels downtown which adds an estimated 600 more people and cars on our already busy, congested, and worn out streets. The Square is always packed with wall to wall tents so the people who live here and pay taxes can’t enjoy “their” Square. The City of Prescott is not OF THE PEOPLE, it is for itself and money, its not BY THE PEOPLE, it’s by a handful of council members who decide the direction of the City, and it’s not FOR THE PEOPLE, it’s for the money that the project can bring in and to heck with the people who moved here for the SMALL, QUAINT, SAFE and QUITE community it use to be.
So help me understand, if I’m already citizen of Prescott and move to a new house in Prescott, I have to pay an “impact fee” even though I’m not increasing the population? Don’t get me wrong, I’m OK with the small tax and additional fees for developers to help funding for public safety, but I’m not increasing the population. Somehow this needs to be rewritten to not penalized existing residents who are just moving to a different location.
Doug-
Read this article to get an understanding of how impact fees are to be accessed . . . and how past councils grossly shirked their responsibility.
https://azfpi.org/growth/prescotts-kick-the-can-game-with-development-impact-fees/
The points are spot on. The funding should come from all of the new developments. Someone got their pockets lined from the Deep Well Ranch debacle, Granite Dells Pkwy, and the Stringfield Ranch free passes. Make the Kalifornicators pay!
C’mon people, there is nothing in the proposition that requires the city to spend the tax on emergency services…it is merely an example of what the city might spend the tax on! A permanent hand in my wallet? No freakin way!
People who vote to tax themselves are not thinking clearly. Proposition 478 is being sold on emotion, not logic. The government minions, both elected and appointed/hired, are heavily influenced by the developers, those involved in big money projects, so those in charge work to get needed money from those with the least influence, the ordinary taxpayer.
Tax the tourists, the many new hotel beds, the booze money flowing along Whiskey Row, the new developments and their costly infrastructures; instead they want to tax the locals when they buy their groceries, car repairs, essentials.
Governments hunger for money and governments wasteful ways mean perpetual tax increases if the governments have their way. Don’t allow your vote to enable ever-increasing spending. Like private citizens, the ultimate payers of taxes, governments need to learn to live within their means. If they cannot learn, and the cannot and will not, then they need to be forced by the voters to live within their means.
I just have to add a side note to this. I drove through downtown yesterday, around the Square, and there wasn’t one parking spot anywhere. Even the side streets were packed. No event going on at the Square, just your typical Thursday afternoon. My question is this, after the “Grand” Hotel is built downtown, where are all of the 100+ cars going to park that now park in the Old City Hall parking lot next to the Police station? Can you imagine an additional 109 more cars downtown?!! The parking problem downtown has gotten completely out of hand and our City Council just doesn’t seem to care. Welcome to Phoenix folks!
A paper back book published in 1999, Better; Not Bigger by Eben Fodor. The book covers the issues of growth and the face there are very limited winners and the residents become the loosers of “quality of life” issues. The book does not even go into our lack of water which is a larger factor in Arizona than most locations. The way out of this serious dilemma is to become active in your community and elect people who work for us and not the large land owners and their developer friends.
Prescott could save Millions with privatizing services such as trash collection. Prescott Valley would be in trouble if it had to support a PV fire department. Prescott Valley residents need to thing that combining our property taxes for fire protection and a heavy sales tax we are probably more heavily taxed than Prescott if that’s any comfort.
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