P.L.A.N. Update - Bad Budget Exposed!‏

Digging into the Bad Budget Details

After a painful two-day marathon, the legislature approved a state budget on June 4. However, President Bob Burns (R – Peoria) and Speaker Kirk Adams (R – Mesa) did not immediately transmit the 10-bill budget package to Governor Jan Brewer, explaining that they are holding the bills in order to continue negotiations with her. The Governor has repeatedly stated that she will oppose budget bills that contain policy measures; she also has said that she would oppose a budget that does not include new revenues to address a FY 2010 shortfall that her office now estimates at $4 billion. This is the big sticking point -- in the budget proposal the Governor released on June 1, a temporary one-percent sales tax increase would provide approximately $1 billion toward that shortfall. Governor Brewer is adamant that any budget proposal transmitted to her needs to include it.

The legislative budget would take a chunk of vehicle license tax money from cities all over the state; the impact to Phoenix's budget would be about $11.8 million. This comes on top of $156 million in program cuts already made this year. A separate report is attached that details the most likely reductions in city programs that would result from that loss of general fund revenue. In a nutshell, because of the cuts already made, if this budget is enacted Phoenix would be forced to consider significant cuts in our public safety departments - the biggest cut is $5 million for our Phoenix Police Department -- the equivalent of 50 sworn officers.

Other harmful items in the legislative budget include:

Property tax assessment ratios are changed, significantly impacting the City’s current and future bond programs and likely shifting tax burden from business property owners to residential homeowners;

Cities cannot assess any impact fees for three years, shifting the costs of new development to homeowners in established areas;

Future impact fees could not be used for important infrastructure elements such as parks, recreation facilities, open space, historic preservation sites, park-and-ride parking lots, or other similar facilities; Cities cannot update their building codes for three years, thwarting efforts to increase safety and energy efficiency in new buildings; and

Authority and funding to proceed with expansion of the downtown Phoenix medical school is eliminated, doing nothing to address our state's shortage of medical doctors.

Which Legislators Support This Budget?

These Phoenix legislators voted YES on this damaging budget. Write or call them and ask why.

Source: P.L.A.N.