Gilbert is asking its voters to increase its constitutional aggregate expenditure limit.
This is not a request for a tax increase, just permission to spend its funds. It is not a debt ceiling, as the state constitution requires Gilbert to maintain a balanced budget.
In 1980, the state set a limit for how much local cities and towns are allowed to spend regardless of the revenues received, based off each municipality’s actual spending during the 1979-1980 fiscal year budget and then increased each year for population growth and inflation, but not for new service levels.
