The Higley Unified School District is asking voters to continue its current 15% maintenance and operations budget override for another seven years, meaning the district could continue to raise 15% over its revenue control limit, about $13 million, for its maintenance and operations budget.
That budget pays for the day-to-day operations of the district, including most salaries. It would be paid for by the district continuing its secondary property tax on district property owners.
The money raised would have to be spent on issues the district defines for voters: support special education; maintain class sizes; provide elementary special programs including physical education, music and arts; support gifted programs and all-day kindergarten; provide additional educational resources, including reading and mathematics, to classrooms.
A yes vote: Allows the district to continue collecting a secondary property tax for the defined purposes and continue those initiatives.
A no vote: No effect in the first year. However, the district would have to begin a phaseout of the secondary property tax in fiscal year 2025-26 with it expired in fiscal year 2027-28. Along with that, the district would have to cut the initiatives funded by the override.
Tax effect: If approved, the secondary property tax rate would remain stable for five years, though the property tax collected on any single property almost certainly would each increase up to 5%, as capped by state law, with the increased value of the property. If rejected, the secondary property tax rate would be cut by one-third in consecutive years until gone.
Arguments:
Pro — The initiatives are necessary to keep HUSD education competitive with other districts, and the override does not increase the current tax rate.
Con — Any benefit of the initiatives is outweighed by the eventual decrease in tax burden upon local property owners.
We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X.
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
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