City bonds, school district budgets on the ballot in Maricopa County jurisdictional election
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Illustration: Victoria Ellis/Axios
It's election time. No, not the big one, but you might have some school district budget overrides or municipal bond measures on your ballot.
Driving the news: Early ballots went out last week in Maricopa County for the jurisdictional election on Nov. 7.
Zoom in: Twenty-three school districts have bonds or budget overrides up for a vote.
- Bonds allow districts to raise money for major capital expenditures like buildings, land and buses.
- Maintenance and operation overrides allow districts to increase property taxes for seven years to increase their budgets over state-approved funding formulas by up to 15%.
Meanwhile, six cities have municipal issues on the ballot.
- Phoenix, Glendale, Goodyear, Surprise and El Mirage voters will decide the fate of municipal bond measures.
- Voters in Litchfield Park will choose whether to make it a charter city. If they approve, they'll elect 14 people to a Board of Freeholders that will draft a charter, which will go up for a public vote in March.
Why it matters: Off-year elections lack the attention, big-name candidates and massive spending we see in even-numbered years (you can safely turn on a football game without being inundated with campaign ads), but the issues can still be pretty important.
- Bond and override elections allow school districts to supplement the funding they receive from the state.
- Phoenix's $500 million bond is the first since 2006, with revenue earmarked for public safety, housing, streets and storm drains, parks and a handful of other areas.
- Glendale's two bond measures would approve a combined $160 million in spending — $82 million for streets and intersections, and $78 million for public safety.
The intrigue: Some of the school district elections are being fiercely contested.
- For example, supporters of a $500 million bond measure for Mesa Public Schools are campaigning against opponents from local Republican Party organizations.
By the numbers: Maricopa County sent out more than 1.9 million ballots last week.
- There are about 2.5 million active registered voters in the county, meaning about three-fourths live in cities or school districts with elections this year.
Of note: Some of you might be wondering why you got an early ballot in the mail even though you didn't ask for one and you're not on the Automatic Early Voting List.
- State law allows counties to approve all-mail elections for special taxing districts, including school districts.
Yes, but: Counties are still required to have in-person voting, so check the Maricopa County Elections Department's website to find a location near you.
- In-person ballot replacement voting begins Oct. 30.
What's next: Axios Phoenix will explore in depth some of the individual ballot measures leading up to Election Day, so if there's something you're wondering about, let us know and we'll take a look.