Scottsdale sales tax to stay on ballot after city alters description, complying with ruling
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The Scottsdale City Council changed the description of a tax measure for the November ballot after a court ruled the original characterization was misleading.
Why it matters: What ends up on the ballot "might be the last or only description the electorate sees before voting on the measure," the Arizona Supreme Court ruled in a case over a 2012 ballot description.
Catch up quick: Scottsdale voters in 1995 approved a 0.2% sales tax increase to fund the city's land purchase for the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.
- That tax expires next year.
- Proposition 490, which the city referred to the ballot, would authorize a new 30-year tax to provide funding for city parks and recreation facilities along with maintenance and protection of the preserve.
- The new 0.15% tax would be lower than the expiring one.
The big picture: In a lawsuit filed by the conservative Goldwater Institute, the Arizona Court of Appeals on Monday ruled that Scottsdale's ballot description is misleading.
- It states the 0.20% sales tax would be "replaced and reduced."
- The court found that Prop. 490 wouldn't "reduce" the current tax because the original tax is expiring and the measure "would implement a brand-new tax."
State of play: Prop. 490 will still be on the ballot after the Scottsdale City Council voted Tuesday to change the ballot description.
- The new ballot language states that Prop. 490 would "enact a transaction privilege and use tax rate of 0.15% for 30 years … upon the expiration of the current 0.20% tax rate.
- Prop. 490 is expected to generate about $1.15 billion over 30 years, the Arizona Republic reported.
The other side: By approving a new description 24 hours before the county's ballot printing deadline, Goldwater Institute spokesperson Joe Setyon told Axios "the city is depriving its citizens of a meaningful opportunity to comment or seek judicial review on the new language."