An extension of an existing Maricopa County sales tax will be on the ballot in the upcoming general election — and proponents say there’s a lot riding on it.
Proposition 479 is a proposed 20-year extension of the existing half-cent sales tax in Maricopa County dedicated to funding transportation projects. It extends the tax approved in 1985 and renewed in 2004 with voters’ approval of Proposition 400.
No one’s a bigger proponent of 479’s passage than Kevin Hartke. The Chandler mayor and chair of the top committee at both the League of Arizona Cities and Towns and the Maricopa Association of Governments has a lot at stake, including within his own city: Chandler staff estimate the city stands to have $115 million of arterial street improvements alone covered by the extension.
