Just over 37,000 of the nearly 306,000 mail-in ballots sent to Tucson voters for the March 11 vote on Proposition 414 have been returned, officials say.
Tucson voters will decide Proposition 414, an $800 million plan that raises the city’s sales for 10 years to mostly pay for items linked to police and fire expenses. The proposition would send about 66% of the expected $80 million per year the higher tax would raise to public safety needs. About 34% would go to address issues related to affordable housing, homelessness and other social needs.
If approved, Prop. 414 would raise the city sales tax rate by a half-cent, from 8.7% to 9.2% for the next decade.
Ballots for the all-mail election were sent Feb. 12.
A little over 303,000 ballots were initially sent, but the city had an additional 2,409 voters added to the voter rolls ahead of the Feb. 10 registration cut-off, said Andy Squire, a city spokesman. In all, 305,779 ballots were mailed to Tucson voters, he said.
By party, Tucson’s voter registration has 127,885 Democrats; 65,956 Republicans; 2,182 Libertarians; 2,451 people in the No Labels Party; and about 686 Green Party members; Another 103,038 are independents, according to the Pima County Recorder’s Office.
Tucson voters will decide Proposition 414, an $800 million plan that raises the city’s sales for 10 years to mostly pay for items linked to police and fire expenses, including replacing two of the police department’s three helicopters.
The first batch was returned to the city on Feb. 19, according to the city clerk’s office.
As of Friday a little over 37,000 ballots had been returned. The city clerk’s office says the bulk of those returned, about 27% and 20% of the total, are from Ward 2 and Ward 4 voters, respectively.
The deadline to mail a ballot is Wednesday, March 5, according to the city.
The 10-year sales tax, dubbed the “Safe & Vibrant City,” would raise an average of $80 million annually, according to the city. About one-third of revenues generated would go toward boosting staffing across city departments, but mostly for police and fire.
The proposition is split into five different areas, deemed “quality-of-life” categories by the city, that would fund housing services, neighborhoods, youth and anti-crime efforts, as well as several items for first responders, including staffing, upgrades for stations and equipment, investments in technology and revamping the police department’s air support unit.
City leaders, first responder unions as well as community and business leaders have all given support to the proposition, according to the yeson414.com website. They say its passage would “make neighborhoods safer, address the affordable housing crisis, and invest in services to improve our quality of life.”
Charles Borla is the local government reporter for the Arizona Daily Star. He started covering public safety for the Arizona Daily Star after graduating from the University of Arizona in 2022. David and Charlie talk about his current role, how he navigates the Tucson community and what is to come for Charlie at the Arizona Daily Star.
Although Prop. 414 has garnered support from a broad coalition, it also faces opposition from both sides of the political spectrum.
Vote No 414, funded by the Tucson Metro Chamber PAC, opposes the tax hike. If passed, the chamber says, the 9.2% would leave Tucson with the highest rate for a major city in Arizona.
The chamber, along with others in the community — such as the Tucson Crime Free Coalition, Democratic state lawmaker Alma Hernandez and Pima County Republican Party chair Kathleen Winn — say the city needs to reprioritize its budget and find ways to properly fund public safety before asking voters to raise the city’s sales tax rate.
And the No Prop. 414 Tucson coalition, which consists of various mutual aid groups, unions, political organizations and political parties, say the sales tax measure does not properly address what they see as the most urgent needs in the community, such as affordable housing, homelessness or addressing poverty.
