Vote No On Proposition 416

Proposition 416 & 417 Higher Taxes For Pinal County Arizona. Vote no on Prop 416 and Prop 417. Pinal County Residents are against this $640 Million Dollar Tax on our backs! This is a Second 1/2 Cent tax that is going to cost all residents of Pinal County a Projected $640 Million Dollars. This projects does not even do anything for so many communities or it does very little. San Tan Valley needs better roads and all this does for this area of over 100,000 residents is promis a Park and Ride some time in the next 10 to 20 years. This is a Second 1/2 cent sales tax on Pinal County Residents. The first half has already been mismanaged and used for other purposes that it was never meant for. Now some of those areas are having to pay this back, I say let them pay it back first before we give them more to waste. From The Arizona Free Enterprise Club https://goo.gl/ydmmCG In 2006, the Auditor General randomly selected Pinal County as well as several participating cities: Mammoth, Superior, and Apache Junction. What they discovered was rampant abuse and misuse of the transportation funds in all three municipalities. Specifically, the Town of Mammoth used transportation funds to pay employee Christmas bonuses and unknown credit card expenses. They also failed to track employee work schedules and were unsure if some non-roadway public works projects were being improperly charged to the transportation fund. The Town of Superior and Apache Junction had similar infractions. The abuse has continued throughout the years. The AG’s report in 2011 uncovered multiple towns using transportation dollars to cover deficits in other departments; a practice strictly prohibited by law. Mammoth again was one of the biggest offenders, “borrowing” over $600,000 of restricted funds. Superior was caught in the act as well, using $2.6 million of their transportation dollars to subsidize other city departments. In a follow-up report, nearly three years after the previous report, neither city had rectified the deficiency in the transportation account and the Town of Superior had not even begun to make any repayments. Casa Grande To Get 200 Million of the 640 Million in taxes! If Casa Grande wants to improve their roads they need to raise their City Taxes and NOT put the Burden on the Rest of Pinal County! https://goo.gl/B6SvRM Ken Edwards highlights what he called flaws in the Pinal County Regional Transportation plan. Only $29 million is allocated to the widening of State Route 347, compared to $401.6 million given to projects in Apache Junction, Florence, Eloy and Coolidge. https://goo.gl/VSu5op If local cities want better roads let them pass a sales tax increase in the cities they represent. The GoldWater Instatute says "Litigation Imminent Against Flawed $640 Million Pinal Transportation Plan" Although Pinal leadership has been warned for months now about the proposition’s legal problems, advocates have blazed ahead with the election. But this newest development makes the decision for Pinal County Supervisors very clear – pull their defunct proposition or cost taxpayer’s their hard-earned money defending it in court. Money that could be used instead for county priorities – such as roads and transportation infrastructure. The legal issues highlighted by the Goldwater Institute include: The ballot language clearly states retail is the only classification that will be taxed, yet the ballot pamphlet states they intend to tax other classifications as well. The language is contradictory, misinforms voters, and likely exceeds their lawful authority if the intent is for county administrators to tax classifications not approved by the Board of Supervisors. As crafted, the tax would not apply to purchases over $10,000, an arbitrary exemption that is not allowed under state law. Earlier this year, proponents of the transportation plan introduced legislation to give them the authority to implement a $10K cap, but the bill did not pass. Supporters of the tax hike decided to include the exemption anyway. The letter from The Goldwater Institute can be viewed HERE. https://www.azfree.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Goldwater-Letter-to-Pinal-County.pdf Early ballots are expected to be mailed in early October, so any decision to cancel the election on the transportation plan would need to be made in the next couple of weeks. Pinal County taxpayers should demand accountability of their elected officials and tell them to pull the plug on this illegally drafted and ill-conceived tax increase.

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Vote No On proposition 416