Say No To Home Rule

By Mike Schroeder

Sedona, AZ — The July 21 vote is simply about who controls Sedona’s city budget.

FALSE. The council always controls the budget, and under AZ statute there are three funding choices:

Base – Based on an early 1980 number, some small cities still use that;

Permanent Base Adjustment – around 54% or AZ cities use that, and growing;

Home Rule – which by law must be voted on every 4 years, and IF FAILS, one of three things happen:

1. The city must use BASE, which in our case is not a good deal.
2. The city Council can put PERMANENT BASE ADJUSTMENT on the ballot in November, and set a number approved by the Auditor General (with some exclusions) to run the city. Voters have ONE option in May of every year to pass a 1-time override for additional funds for specific projects
3. When Home Rule expires on June 30th, 2027, and the is no Permanent Base Adajustment, the Council in May can put an override on a special ballot requesting additional funds for a special project or projects.
No PANIC – NO catastrophe – sorry scare mongers.

The sky does not fall Chicken Little. But the mystery writer of this article wants you to think it will fall. That’s the plan, that’s always the plan. Tax all you can get, remember the ½ cent “temporary” sales tax we had that the council couldn’t leave their hands off it…and made permanent?

Home Rule does not create or Raise Taxes. Never has, never will. Hollow statement to scare you – when you don’t need to be scared.

Home Rule allows the city government, Staff with limitations, and Council to spend any money they have on any project they want without regard to voter input. And boy do they NOT like the thought of voter input.

What happens if Home Rule passes: Nothing. The city continues to spend money like they’re printing it ignoring public input.

What happens if Home Rule Fails: And I quote the “fear monger”

If Home Rule does not pass, Sedona must follow a state spending cap based on the 1979 budgets.
That limit would allow the city to spend about $15 million — roughly 80% less than today’s budget. The city would be able to pay some current ongoing legal debts, such as bonds, above and beyond this $15 million limit. But in the end, the current 2026 budget of around $100 million would be cut by about 70 million. Which means many ongoing infrastructure projects could, and would probably be halted.

Then we have more fear mongering about how we are going to lose Police, Transit services (which we are all but giving away – stupid), Parks and Rec – of course, City Staff…is that a problem? And community nonprofits. We must put the panic into our many nonprofits.

Home Rule is about local budget control? FALSE – Home Rule is about a runaway City Council and Staff with no oversight from the public. And THAT my friends, sends PANIC in the Halls of City Hall. Can you imagine having to justify expenditures to the public?

How about a Forest Road extension that had an estimate of $2.77 million and came in at $17.6 million. Oh, they used imminent domain to secure private property, offered below market, sued every parcel owner, and lost every suite. Paid a lot more. Just a small piece of that mess.

A bloated cost and still rising Uptown car garage, one you can build cheaper in LA. Preliminary estimates, around $11.5 million, and if we are lucky it will come in at $26 million. Don’t hold your breath. Cost per space – wait for it….$92,000. That will buy you a mobile home.

Is this what “Home Rule” buys? Apparently. How about the purchase of the Cultural Park for $20 million. $10 million cash on hand, and $10 million debt financing. And then they wanted to park homeless people in cars on it. AND it was a LAME DUCK COUNCIL that made that move. “We have to buy it so we can decide what to do with it”. The $10 million was from “affordable Housing” fund?

Shuttle buses to trail heads? FREE? Tell me where you can go ANYWHERE on the planet and get FREE transportation. They have an App mfor the shuttle, charge SOMETHING for god’s sake. Anything to recoup some dollars.

We are picking people up in shuttles for $2 or $1 and taking them wherever they want to go? And some of our busses are hybrids? More expense to buy and maintain? Even our past transit manager, Mr. Webber said this was a trial program as he went out the door. And now we are thinking about a $31 million BUS barn and service facility down by the sewer plant? These people think we are Phoenix? You NEVER get out of your wheelhouse. You hire professional companies to do this stuff, and then fire them if it doesn’t work. We build monuments at city hall and we keep buying more buildings for more city hall even though we are not growning.

The list is a lot longer – Too much money, too much ideology, and too much incompetence.

We spend millions on roads that don’t fix anything. Makes traffic worse. Who oversees THOSE decisions? How about a $840,000 culvert on Back O Beyond Road that 1) was not needed, and 2 did not help the residents at all on Back O Beyond Circle. Or concrete paths to nowhere, let’s pave everything. The city even put in a concrete walk path for HIKERS from the NFS lot on 179 to United Methodist Church – these are people WALKING to a HIKING TRAIL!

This year’s rundown of city staff’s salaries shows a total of forty-five regular city staff—twenty two percent of the total—having ascended to the $100,000-plus salary circle, up from 28 last year. From $209,000 to $100,000. Up 25% from last year. Nice raise if you can get it – Medium income in Sedona is $73,000. 26 city employees between $80K and $100K.

Medium income in the Verde Valley in 2023 is $35K, minimum wage in AZ is $31,500.

In 2018, the average for the previous 5 years expenditure in Sedona was $38.5 million, budget was $49.5 Million. Population went from 10,300 in 2000 down to 9700, number of tourists stayed the same from the mid 2000s. Current budget is $103 million. Wow.

Let’s compare – Palm Desert, California, BIG tourist town – just like Sedona

Budget, $109 million, 55,000 residents. (I think 55,000 is bigger than 9,700)
Out of that budget comes $28 million for contract law enforcement – from county
Out of the budget comes $24 million for country fire (We pay EXTRA for that in Sedona)
121 Employees (does not include police) $20.3 million salary and Benefits (excluding police)

The City of Palm Desert maintains nearly 172 miles of public roadways, including streets, bridges, and associated infrastructure. Sedona…119 miles.

The City of Palm Desert operates more than 12 parks, offering over 200 acres of parkland for residents and visitors. These facilities, managed by the City of Palm Desert Parks and Recreation Department, also include two community centers, an aquatic center, and over 25 miles of multi-purpose trails.

We have an election coming up, 4 NEW candidates for council and 1 new candidate for Mayor. When the city council bought the Cultural Park for $20 million, they did it between the time 3 new councilors were elected and before they were seated. YOU – the voter voted for a change. And that VOTE was stolen from you by an outgoing council.

Are you going to let that happen again? If you want changes vote for a new council and let the new council manage the city with input from the people. A NO on Home Rule does not cripple the city. Council can go for the override in MAY – NOTHING CHANGES, but THE VOTERS get a say, and the council must explain what they need the money for.

RED Alert – THE CITY STAFF AND COUNCIL ARE BEING COACHED RIGHT NOW, WE HAVE THE STATEMENTS, THAT YOU KEEP HOME RULE BY CREATING A CRISIS IN THE MINDS OF THE VOTERS. It happens every 4 years. You like being manipulated?

There is NO crisis – if you hear that, you are being lied to. Are you going to vote for a council and staff that creates a fake crisis so they can continue spending money like we have witnessed?

You build a road – you get a turnkey bid. You build a parking garage; you get a turnkey bid. It is up to the contractor to know what the hell they are doing, or you don’t issue the bids.
Our city government is too big, out of control, and every one of us sees it every time we go out of our houses or apartments.

Oh yes – more details to come. NO on HOME RULE – it is NOT the end of Sedona – it is the rebirth of common sense and efficient management.