There is no need for a recount of Tucson election results that gave the mayor and council a big pay raise, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in an opinion Wednesday.
The state statute regarding election recounts, A.R.S. § 16-661, does not apply to Proposition 413, which is now set to give Tucson Mayor Regina Romero and members of the city council their first pay raises since 1999, Mayes said in an opinion posted Wednesday on the Attorney General’s website.
“A.R.S. § 16-661’s reference to automatic recounts of ‘referred measures’ only encompasses statewide ballot measures and does not include municipal measures like Proposition 413. As such, no recount is required,” Mayes said in her summary .
This was the same reasoning the city gave shortly after a potential recount was quickly nixed in mid-November following an extremely close race. They reversed course shortly after, following some criticism about the lack of a recount and turned to the state to get a clear answer.
A total of 94,014 votes were cast on Proposition 413. It passed by 289 votes, official results released in November showed.
This fell within the margins that “trigger” recounts, as set by state statutes. The law says a recount is required for any election with a margin of less than 1/2 of 1% (or any margin less than 0.5%).
However, the statute applies to “statewide referred measures, not municipal measures,” Mayes said Tuesday.
“Viewed in isolation, ‘referred measures’ would appear to encompass all potential referred ballot measures, including statewide, county, and municipal referred measures, because there is no indication in § 16-661(A) itself that ‘referred measures’ should be limited to certain levels of government. Under that view, § 16-661(A) would apply to a municipal referred measure such as Proposition 413,” Mayes said in her opinion.
“However, the meaning of statutory text must be assessed ‘in view of the entire text, considering the context and related statutes on the same subject’ and text should not be read in isolation,” Mayes said. “The statutes that follow § 16-661 make clear that the term ‘initiated or referred measures’ in the recount statutes refer only to statewide initiatives or measures. Put another way, the statutes do not contemplate recounts of local initiatives or referred measures.”
A November news release sent by the city shared this opinion. It said a recount was not needed because “the proposition is a local referred ballot measure that was called as a special election and administered as a special election.” It went on to say state statutes that trigger recounts don’t apply.
Raising the pay for mayor and council members will allow for more political newcomers to seek office in the future, Romero said Wednesday in a written statement.
“Serving in public office is a privilege that is no longer limited to those who can afford to live on $24,000 for Council or $42,000 for Mayor,” Romero said. “The voters of Tucson passed Prop 413 that paves the way for everyday people, working class people, single heads of household, recent college grads, women and people of color to afford to run for elected office. The diversity of representation this enables will benefit all Tucsonans.”
Prop. 413 increases the mayor’s annual salary from $42,000 to $97,750 and its six council members from $24,000 per year up to $76,500, a 130% and 220% boost, respectively.
These salaries, which have been in place since 1999, lagged behind Tucson’s median household income of $48,058 according to U.S. Census data.
Prop. 413 also ties Tucson’s elected officials’ annual income to the earnings of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, whose salaries are set to increase by $20,000 at the start of 2025 in accordance with state statute. That means the mayor and council salaries also could see another bump then.
