Residents of San Tan Valley will be voting on Proposition 411 in November, which will decide whether to raise the town’s annual budget ceiling to $850 million.
The state’s constitution imposes an expenditure limitation on all Arizona cities and towns based on a formula adopted by the State Legislature in 1979-80. The formula determines the amount of money that can be used to fund municipal services each year, regardless of the money the town collects.
The base formula is adjusted every year for population and inflation.
San Tan Valley’s current base is more than $23.5 million. A “yes” vote on Prop. 411 would increase that base to more than $207.5 million in 1979-80 dollars. Adjusted to today’s dollars, that would provide the town with an expenditure limit of $850 million for the 2027-28 fiscal year.
“No, the town does not have $850 million, but it’s a permanent base adjustment to set a cap on what could be spent. It has nothing to do with our revenues today or our revenues in 10 years or our taxes today or our taxes in 10 years,” Town Manager Brent Billingsley explained to the council at its Sept. 16 meeting.
With the voting registration for the November election coming up on Oct. 5, the town is beginning an outreach effort to residents to explain the proposition and what it means.
Billingsley told the council that a “no” vote would leave the existing base unchanged.
“We couldn’t, no matter how much revenue we made, we could not spend above that base,” he said. “Our base currently is about $98 million. Queen Creek’s budget is $650 million. We’re bigger than Queen Creek.”
Without the base adjustment, residents could later opt for home rule, which requires a vote every four years to override the base limit. In 2022, residents in Queen Creek voted to replace home rule with a permanent base adjustment.
In 2022, Florence voters also approved a permanent base adjustment. Florence voters had turned down home rule in past elections, meaning that the town had to hold elections every time it needed to buy an item that caused the budget to exceed the expenditure limitation, regardless of whether Florence had the money on hand.
“I just want to say that for me, it seems like a logical thing to do, so that every four years you’re not having to come back and say, ‘OK, we have to adjust the ceiling of our budget that we can spend,’” Mayor Darren Schnepf said. “This is $850 million. That will be for the foreseeable future. We’re not going to spend $850 million. We’re not even going to collect $850 million. But it’s something we don’t have to do every four years and gear up every three years to have an election on it.”
Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org. Please send your comments about this article to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.
Janet Perez News Editor | Queen Creek &
San Tan Valley
Meet Janet Janet Perez joined Independent Newsmedia as editor of the Queen Creek Independent and Florence Independent in 2020. She started her career in 1989 with the Gannett-owned El Paso Times. In 1992, she moved to Tempe and has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. She left Arizona for three years to work at New Mexico State University and Baylor University before returning to work at Arizona State University. Missing the business, she went back to journalism in 2017.
Community: A long-time pet owner, she supports animal welfare causes.
Education: University of Texas at El Paso with a BA in journalism and a minor in political science.
Random Fact: She had a head full of random facts.
Hobbies: Reading, watching documentaries, cooking and playing with her dogs.
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