By Mike Schroeder
Sedona, AZ — Well here we are again, every 4 years we are forced to address this issue. We hear the begging, pleading, and scare tactics from the City, its employees and organizations receiving assistance from the city to support their programs. We also hear comments, many emotional, from some residents that are influenced by bad or misunderstood information. In most cases information that is structured to achieve an end to the means. Welcome to our political cycle.
IF HOME RULE does not pass: We hear that Council cannot spend the money it has collected, and that it is controlled by the state, or we lose those funds into some black hole…both are FALSE. The city collected the money, and Council should be able to do what they want, and a NO vote limits their spending actions. Well, yes it does. It also makes them more responsible to the public and less to their personal ideologies. If you read the City’s web site on Home Rule, you will think the world is coming to an end.
It was AGAIN brought to the city’s attention at a meeting June 19th at the RORR dinner that the City is in violation of two Arizona Statutes prohibiting ALL cities form presenting an unbalanced argument on these issues. One councilor at the meeting said the city attorney (who has given notice and is moving out of state) said it was not an issue. But at the same meeting, a city employee, explaining HOME RULE did a very balanced presentation. Games? If in fact that is what the City Attorney stated, the County Attorney and the Arizona Attorney General’s office does not. We have the law, and the city’s website on this site. You can be the judge.
Let’s look at the Council. Good people, good intentions, and what qualifications? I don’t disparage anyone on the council, they all have been successful in their careers. However, overseeing 202 city employees, 45 earning more than $100k with automatic 5 and 10% pay increases for a city of 9,700 people, a 6% decrease in population from 2000 to 2020, and a budget of $103.3 million creates questions. Average Sedona household income is $74,000, per person is $59,000. That’s a budget of $10,600 per resident and $511,000 per employee.
If we look at a comparable western city average, Snowflake, Winslow, Chino Valley, AZ, Delta and Fruita, CO, and Socorro, NM, populations ranging from 6736 to 14,307 (all with some tourist activity) average number employees is 138. Average budget per resident is $3,555. Average budget for all these cities is $35,435,551. Why is Sedona’s budget $68 MILLION higher?
But let’s take a step further. Review Palm Desert California. 14.4 MILLION tourists annually, 53,000 residents, and a budget of $112 million, 5.5 TIMES larger budget than Sedona. A total of $2113 per resident, $,487 LESS than Sedona. Wake up Sedona, we are being led by ideologs and incompetents.
If Sedona was operating without Home Rule, do you really think The Forest Road Extension would have had a $14.7 million cost overrun? The uptown garage, we were told would cost $11.5 million. Final cost, $26.4 million. The “Free” shuttle system for tourists, costs $1.4 million annually to operate, with no mechanism to recoup any dollars from tourists, even though it is APP based.
Uptown, $4.8 million to change two lanes out of town to 2 lanes INTO town from the canyon, jamming up the “Y” roundabout all the way back to Tlaquepaque. Then $4.5 million on the “Zipper Lane” which did not help traffic move.
The city, in a “Lame Duck” session, (we elected new councilors, and before they were seated), the existing council acquired the cultural park for $10 million cash, $10 million bind, and with interest and loan expenses will cost $23 Million, then tried to use part of it for a homeless park. One council person stated, “we had to buy it so we could figure out what to do with it”. And then the Council Sued the initiative supported by roughly 1500 CITIZENS to keep it as a Cultural Park. A council “for the people”?
In 2018, Home Rule passed in the primary, and we had the ONLY citizen ballot initiative to establish a Permanent Base Adjustment, PBA, ever in Arizona on the November ballot. That adjustment was set at $35, million ($39 million was the previous actual year expenditures). Today, based on inflation, PBA would be at $41 million. Council told the people to vote NO. Then the council, headed by Mayor Moriarty told the public the coucil would put PBA on the next election cycle. They did not, and had no intention to. They do NOT want citizen input messing with thier little fifedom.
IF you VOTE NO, Small Grants at $350K, Arts and Culture, $200K are not affected, and the city can run the SHALL have services directed by the state. The limit is $31,692,437 including exemptions. If we need to spend more, the Council can request a ONE TIME override each MAY which must be approved by Sedona voters. And in 2028, COUNCIL can put PBA on the ballot with a starting number of $58 million, and also cut our city sales tax by 1% helping local businesses and reducing our costs.
47 Arizona cities operate under PBA, 38 use temporary Home Rule. Make city government responsible, get more citizen involvement, vote NO on Home Rule. It is NOT the end of the world; it is a start to a new era of responsible government.
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