Coconino County Proposition

Proposition 482  Vote YES

Coconino County has recently had to face the high cost of addressing the significant damage from multiple forest fires and flooding. The county had the money to pay for the work but they didn’t have the legal right to access the funds because of a 1980 state expenditure limits law.

This law does not prevent the county from raising revenue but puts a cap on spending those revenues.

In 2023, to make the necessary improvements to protect the public and pay for regular county services, the county was forced to take a loan in the form of a capital bond. It then paid off the loan with the money it already had but could not actually spend because of the state expenditure limits law.  The county was in the absurd position of taking out a loan in order to access the money it already had. The amount of the “expenditure limit” is determined by the county’s  “expenditure base.” The base rate is fixed by Coconino County’s 1980 budget plus formulas the state takes into account annually for population growth and inflation.  

A lot has changed since 1980.  In addition to the increase in fires and flooding, the county now budgets for items that were not even in existence back then.  All of these modern costs are not computed in the annual increase of the “expenditure limits”. Only the state legislature can increase the “expenditure limits” but by voting YES on Proposition

482, voters can raise the “expenditure base” rate. This increase will enable the county to continue to pay for the services we expect to receive now and into the future. This is not a new tax. This is a democratic and fiscally responsible way to spend the revenue the county already generates.

F3 recommends a YES vote.