City leaders will spend the next several weeks searching for ways to find money to pay for police, fire and other needs after Tucson voters overwhelmingly rejected a 10-year sales tax hike plan that would have raised about $800 million dollars for such expenses.
“I was a bit surprised by the outcome, but it was pretty clear from the voters, that what was put on the ballot for consideration was not the solution they were looking for,” City Manager Tim Thomure said about the rejection of Proposition 414 by nearly 70 percent of voters.
Thomure said the election defeat means he and the city council must find a way to piece together next year’s fiscal budget with money to cover some of the public safety expenses that would have been covered by Prop. 414 while dealing with a projected $14 million deficit.
The city’s fiscal year starts in July, but budget proposals start next month.
“I fully intend to be recommending some additional resources for both Tucson fire and Tucson police, in two areas. One is some additional personnel that would have been funded by 414, we’re going to have to create the capacity in the general fund to do it. And it’s not going to solve the problem, but it’s going to be a meaningful step forward,” Thomure said.
He said the city lacks a robust general and capital fund to handle those expenses, relying instead over recent years in voter-approved propositions.
Mayor Regina Romero talks with supporters of Prop.414 including Pat DiConcini, while awaiting election results Tuesday night. Romero said after the proposition was soundly defeated that she and other city leaders welcome opponents of the measure to offer potential solutions to public safety and housing and other needs the proposition would have paid for.
While Thomure said layoffs are unlikely, he noted there could be service cuts, hundreds of vacancies left unfilled and possible worker reassignments. He also noted that the city has about 200 employees funded by federal grants. “If the federal funding isn’t resolved, where we are actually access those funds that we’re entitled to, there could be grant-funded positions that we need to address as well.”
Shortly after unofficial results were released Tuesday night, Mayor Regina Romero said at a pro-proposition event that the measure was an attempt to address what city voters had said they wanted the city to help solve, like community safety, affordable housing, homelessness and the opioid crises. But voters turned it down, Romero said, in-part due to actions taken over recent weeks at the federal level, such as mass firings, and the volatility in the economy.
Romero said Tuesday night she is ready to go back to the drawing board, and encouraged those who led opposition campaigns to Prop. 414 to present their ideas and possible solutions to the council.
April Putney, who has been representing the grassroots No Prop. 414 Tucson coalition, she said the hope Romero is sincere. She said the coalition is working to identify solutions to the problems they see as crucial, particularly housing.
“I think even across the political spectrum, we’ve seen that people really want targeted funding,” she said. “We hope to be able to present mayor and council with some concrete solutions that they can then explore using their time and resources as paid city employees.”
Council members Kevin Dahl and Karin Uhlich look over the results showing the defeat of Prop. 414 during a gathering Tuesday night.
“I was so disappointed, because I know that I supported almost all of the stuff in there... When we started on the path doing this, we didn’t realized that people would be reacting to the national situation, where there’s inflation, there’s tariff proposals, people are concerned about their economics, and it’s just not a great time to ask for an extra tax,” Councilman Kevin Dahl said.
“I’ve lived here all my life, I can’t think of a more lopsided defeat, or I should say victory,” said Michael Guymon, president and CEO of the Tucson Metro Chamber, which led one of two opposition campaigns.
“I think the message of a regressive tax, a new tax that would take us to the highest amongst major cities in the state of Arizona, these issues being placed on the backs of the most vulnerable in our community, I think all of those messages really resonated with the electorate.”
“There was something in Prop. 414 for everybody to like. There was also something in Prop. 414 for everybody to dislike or not support,” said Thomure, the city manager. “And I do think it’s fair to say that, asking the voters to increase the sales tax is a tough ask, no matter what, and no matter what you’re doing with the money, no matter what time you do that with, it’s a tough ask . . . and I think the voters were pretty clear on their answer.”
