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    Home » Arizona AG finds city-chamber contract legal, and legally administered
    City of Sedona

    Arizona AG finds city-chamber contract legal,
    and legally administered

    August 23, 2019No Comments4 Mins Read
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    City of Sedona ArizonaSedona AZ (August 23, 2019) – In a report issued Aug. 15, 2019, the Office of the Arizona Attorney General finds that the city of Sedona contract with the Sedona Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau, and the city’s administration of that contract, are consistent with the requirements of the Arizona Constitution.

    From the report:

    The Office concludes that although the payment structure established by the Agreement twice caused the City to pay more to the Chamber than was due to be paid under the Chamber’s City-approved budget, an illegal payment of public money did not occur because the City ultimately accounted for the overpayment through additional appropriations.

    Sedona City Attorney Robert Pickels says he is not surprised. “The final report from the Attorney General’s Office confirmed what the city has always believed, which is that the agreement with the chamber is both well-designed and legally sound,” he says.

    The attorney general’s report closes an investigation requested in July 2018 by then-Sen. Judy Burges, who represented cities in the Phoenix metro area. Burges asked for a state investigation into whether the city violated “gift clause” prohibitions in the Arizona Constitution by allocating a percentage of bed tax revenues for tourism marketing under its contract with the chamber. Shortly before the August 2018 mayor and council election, during which the contract was a hot topic, Burges withdrew her request.

    Nonetheless, the Office of the Attorney General followed through with the investigation, with which the city cooperated fully. The report states:

    The Office asked the City to provide a voluntary response, and the City fully cooperated with the Office’s review, including by providing a voluntary response and supporting materials. Those materials included quarterly and annual reports the Chamber submitted to the City, the City’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for fiscal year 2018, City meeting agendas and minutes related to approving the Chamber’s annual budget proposals, records of payments made to the Chamber by the City, the City’s bed tax accounting for fiscal years 2015-2019, and the Agreement itself. In addition, the Office conducted multiple phone calls with City personnel regarding the materials provided.

    The key question of the inquiry was whether the city violated the “gift clause,” which prohibits government entities from gifting funds to private entities. From the report:  

    Here, the Agreement appears to deal with a valid public purpose; the City’s payments to the Chamber are being made consistent with and pursuant to a valid state law. Accordingly, whether the payments provide an unlawful subsidy ultimately depends on whether the payments are grossly disproportionate. To that end, the key question is whether the payments to the Chamber are ultimately accounted for by the City, either through specific City appropriations or by contracted-for services provided by the Chamber.

    The report concludes that the city of Sedona has lawfully entered into, and administered, its contract for tourism promotion and visitor services with the Sedona Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau: 

    In each fiscal year since the Ordinance’s adoption, the City has paid the Chamber at least the total estimated amount of bed tax revenue at or below the Chamber’s submitted annual budget. However, in the situations where the City generated more-than-projected revenue, and thereby had a larger than expected “true-up” payment, overpayments were made to the Chamber above the approved line item budget. In both instances, the City took steps to manage the excess funds. In FY16, the excess funds of $180,009 were restricted for use and only released for the Chamber to purchase the Jordan Road property in FY18 on the City’s behalf. In FY18, the City exercised its contractual “hold-back” from the FY19 budget to reserve $268,900 of the estimated bed tax collection, thereby accounting for the $116,150 overpayment made for FY18. 

    The Office concludes that the Agreement between the City and the Chamber is not itself illegal or necessarily causes illegal payments of public monies under A.R.S. § 35-212.  Although the pattern of overpayments resulting from greater-than-anticipated bed tax revenues created significant potential for a Gift Clause violation, the City appears to have mitigated that potential by reworking the Agreement to eliminate the automatic remittance of 55% of bed tax revenues to the Chamber. And because the City also took steps to effectively claw back funds that were overpaid, no basis currently exists for further action by the Office on this matter.

    Read the full report from the Office of the Arizona Attorney General here:
    https://www.sedonaaz.gov/home/showdocument?id=38860

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    Paid Political Ad Paid For by Samaire for Mayor
    Paid Political Ad for Samaire Armstrong
    Paid Political Announcement by Samaire For Mayor

     THE MOMENT IS UPON US

    Dear Sedona,

    The moment is upon us. The time for a united effort to shift the focus back to our community is now.

    The ability to thrive in our community, our environment, our workforce, and the tourist industry, is entirely possible because we have all the resources needed for success.

    Still, we need a council that isn’t afraid to ask the hard questions, that makes decisions based on data and facts, and through discussion, rather than moving and voting in group unison as they so regularly do.

    This is my home. I have been a part of the Sedona community for 28 years. I witnessed the road debacle, the lack of planning, the city circumventing the local businesses ability to thrive, while making choices to expand the local government and be in direct competition with private industry.

    I am a unique candidate because unlike the incumbents, I don’t believe the government should expand in size, nor in operations, nor would I attempt to micromanage every aspect of our community.

    City government should stay in its lane and allow the competitive market of local private industry to prosper. And it should defend our community from corporate takeover and infiltration of our town.

    I do not agree that we should sign onto International Building Codes and regulations by signing Sedona up to the ICC. It is imperative that we remain a sweet, rural community.

    Where are the arts? Where is this organic thriving element that we allege to be animated by. Where is our culture? Where is our community?

    The discord between the decision making process and the desires of the community have never been more clear. It has been nearly a decade in the making.

    It is time for a new era of energy to take charge. An energy that is reflective in the ability to succeed rather than be trapped in out of date consciousness.

    It has been a great honor meeting with each of you. I hear your concerns over the insane and out of control spending and I echo them. A budget of $105,000,000 in a town of 9700 residents is completely unacceptable. A parking structure (that looks like a shoe box) originally slated to cost 11 million, now projected to cost 18 million, is incomprehensible. Especially, considering there is no intention of charging for parking.

    For those who are concerned that I lack the political experience within our established system- that is precisely what Sedona needs… Not another politician, but instead a person who understands people, who listens to the voices within the community, and who will act in service on their behalf with accountability, for the highest good of Sedona. What I am not, will prove to be an asset as I navigate the entrenched bureaucracy with a fresh perspective. Business as usual, is over.

    Creative solutions require new energy.

    Every decision that is made by our local government, must contemplate Sedona first.

    • Does this decision benefit the residents?
    • Does this decision benefit the local businesses?
    • Does this decision actually help the environment?
    • Will this decision sustain benefit in the future, or will it bring more problems?

    What we have now is a city government that expands to 165 employees for 9700 residents. Palm Desert has 53,000 residents and 119 city employees. Majority of our city department heads are not even in town. I find this problematic.

    Efforts towards championing in and courting new solutions for our medical needs are imperative. We are losing our doctors. We must encourage competition with other facilities rather than be held hostage by NAH, who clearly have their own set of dysfunctions.

    We must remember that so many move to Sedona for its beauty, hiking, and small town charm. Bigger, faster, and more concrete does not, in broad strokes, fit the ethos of Sedona.

    The old world must remain strong here in balance, as that is what visitors want to experience. Too many have noted that Sedona has lost its edge and charm.

    As Mayor I will preserve the rural charm of our community, and push back against the urbanization that is planned for Sedona.

    As mayor I will make it a priority to create opportunities to support our youth.  After school healthy, enriching programs should be created for our kids, and available to the Sedona workforce regardless of residency and regardless of school they belong to.

    As Mayor, I will create an agenda to deliberately embody the consciousness of our collective needs here, allowing private industry to meet the needs of our community rather than bigger government.

    I hope to have your vote on Aug 2nd. I am excited and have the energy to take on this leadership role with new eyes, community perspective, and the thoughtful consciousness that reflects all ages of the human spectrum.

    Thank you deeply for your consideration.

    Sincerely,

    Samaire Armstrong

    Sedona elections
    Armstrong vs. Jablow: The Main Event
    Ready to Rumble

    By Tommy Acosta
    In the Blue Corner stands Scott Jablow and in the Red Corner of the ring stands Samaire Armstrong, ready to rumble to the bitter end in their fight to become the next Sedona mayor. Jablow weighs in with 1,137 primary election votes (36.13%) under his belt, having wielded his advantage as sitting Sedona City Council vice-mayor to his favor. He brings his years of serving in that capacity into the fray and waged a solid fight in his campaign to make it to the run-off. Armstrong, however withstood a blistering smear campaign from the other opposing candidates and their supporters to make it to the final bout with 967 votes under her belt (30.73%), an amazing feat for a political newcomer. Unfortunately, for the other two candidates, Kurt Gehlbach and sitting mayor Sandy Moriarty, neither put up enough of a fight to make it to the championship bout. Read more→
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