Tucson Ballot Proposition Endorsements

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

With the self-inflicted death of the newspaper industry, Tucson is left with only one daily newspaper, the Arizona Daily Star, and one weekly newspaper, the Tucson Weekly. Both newspapers have weighed in with their endorsements of Tucson ballot propositions.

The Arizona Daily Star first provides an explanation of Prop. 400 lets city spend the revenue it gets:

Proposition 400, known as the "home rule" option, just lets the city spend what it already takes in, even if that is more than what would normally be allowed by the state, based on a formula that takes into account population growth and inflation.

This year the city will go over the limit by about $21million, which city voters authorized in Tucson's first home-rule election in 2005. That authorization expires next year, however, unless voters agree to extend it.

Home-rule attempts rarely lose, having been approved in 75 Arizona cities.

The Star's editorial board recommends a "yes" vote Renew 'home rule' option:

Proposition 400, or the "Home Rule" option, is a no-brainer for Tucson voters. If it's rejected, the city will have to bank millions in tax revenues.

* * *

Home rule "doesn't cost the city anything, it doesn't raise taxes," City Budget Administrator Joyce Garland told us. "It just allows us to spend revenues we collect."

So vote yes on Proposition 400.

The Star's editorial board recommends a "yes" vote on Prop. 401 and Prop. 402 TUSD override would help kids and community:

The Tucson Unified School District is asking voters to approve taxes that would give schools some of the money the state has cut from their budgets and upgrade embarrassingly obsolete technology that hampers student learning and district operations.

Voters should say yes to both Propositions 401 and 402.

The technical terms for what TUSD is asking voters for is a "maintenance and operations budget override" for Prop. 401 and a "technology capital outlay budget override" for Prop. 402.

If both Props. 401 and 402 pass, the average homeowner would pay about $10 more per month. We believe it's a necessary investment.

* * *

The Prop. 401 money wouldn't make up for all of the state's budget cuts but would restore about half of the money, said TUSD Governing Board member Bruce Burke.

Prop. 401 would also guarantee all-day kindergarten at every TUSD elementary school.

* * *

Prop. 402 would allow TUSD to replace outdated computers and technology — machines so old they can't even run modern anti-virus programs. Most Tucson homes have much better Internet connections.

* * *

Some of the Prop. 402 money would go to operational needs for the entire district. Much of the human resources and payroll work that should and could be computerized is still done by hand. It's a waste of employee time, an opportunity for greater errors and a grossly inefficient way to operate a large organization in the 21st century.

* * *

Local voters must protect schools in the face of state budget cuts and pass Prop. 401 and Prop. 402.

Finally, the Arizona Daily Star provides an explanation of Prop. 200 Prop. 200 a lot more involved than it may seem, that largely mirrors the explanations we have provided you here (read it anyway).

The Star's editorial board strongly recommends a "no" vote on Prop. 200. Public-safety initiative is poor public policy:

We agree that public safety must be a top priority, but this ill-conceived initiative is bad public policy.

If passed, the initiative would lock the cash-strapped city of Tucson into spending millions for additional fire and police personnel without providing a funding stream to pay for the increases. Pima County residents would also face increased costs.

The proposition fails as well to provide a dedicated funding stream to pay for related costs arising from the increased fire and police staffing, including, for example, training, communications and fire stations and equipment.

* * *

Pima County taxpayers, whose government runs the jail and some courts fed by city police, would be hit hard.

This is "taxation without representation" for you Pima County residents living outside the Tucson city limits. Remember who is responsible for wanting to raise your taxes without your vote: Bill Arnold and the Tucson Realtors Association, SAHBA, and Jim Click – "that's exactly right!" Stop by his car dealership and tell Jim "exactly" how you feel about it.

[T]he initiative would bludgeon the city into doing what the City Council has already voted to do. The City Council approved a 10-year plan in 2006 to achieve a staffing rate of 2.4 officers per 1,000 residents for the Police Department. The council put the staffing increases on hold after revenues that would have paid for them vanished in the economic crisis.

* * *

We agree that public safety must be a top priority, but do not agree with specific numbers being embedded in the [city] charter.

Sixty-four percent of the city's general fund already is dedicated to public safety. Authorized staffing levels for both police and fire have been maintained despite the economic crisis, according to Letcher.

* * *

Prop. 200 would force the city to make deep, even fatal, cuts in services other than public safety, services that residents demand and deserve and that businesses expect and require.

Proposition 200 is a good idea badly executed. It must be rejected.

The Tucson Weekly provides the Cliff's Notes version of the propositions in its 2009 Tucson Weekly Endorsements:

CITY OF TUCSON: YES ON PROP. 400

This proposition is the result of one of those obscure legal wrinkles: The city of Tucson is required to get voter permission to spend all of the money that it will have available to it. It doesn't mean that the city is raising taxes; it just means that the city's current income stream is high enough to exceed an arbitrary formula determined by the state, so for the city to spend the money it is now collecting, voters have to approve this prop. If they say no, the city would just hang on to the money until it gets a chance to spend it. We might as well spend it now. Vote yes.

TUCSON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT: YES ON 401 AND 402

These two overrides will give the Tucson Unified School District enough money to replace aging computers, ensure that classrooms have enough bandwidth to use the Internet, and give individual schools extra money to use as the local site councils see fit, whether it goes to smaller classes, librarians or teaching the arts.

Technology is the future for students, and TUSD's equipment and infrastructure is woefully out of date. The cost to the owner of a $100,000 home will be about $70 a year. Considering the state budget cuts that are coming in the near future, this is money that TUSD will desperately need. Vote yes.

The Tucson Weekly delves into Prop. 200. giving you "Five reasons to vote against Prop. 200, the Public Safety First Initiative." (If you must know, use the link to read them).

The Tucson Association of Realtors wants to sell you a real fixer-upper.

From the curb, the Public Safety First Initiative sure looks good. Who can be against hiring more cops and firefighters?

But once you make a closer inspection, you realize the foundation isn't quite as firm as it looks. You might not have to put much money down now, but you won't be able to afford the payments that will come due in a few years.

Here are five reasons to reject Prop 200…

* * *

The fact that Prop 200 is an unfunded mandate is why business groups ranging from the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce to the Arizona Multihousing Association oppose Prop 200—and that's why you should, too. They understand all too well that when it comes time to pay for this, taxes on businesses and renters will be on the rise.

We don't oppose hiring more cops and firefighters. They work hard and deserve our support. But we do object to enshrining staffing levels in the city charter, killing any hope of funding future street repairs or park improvements, and pushing Tucson a step closer to bankruptcy.

Vote no on Proposition 200.

In case there is any doubt in your mind about the recommendations from Blog for Arizona, this is a rare hat trick where we are in complete agreement with both the Arizona Daily Star and Tucson Weekly on the ballot propositions.