Scottsdale City Council corrects language of Prop. 490 ballot language
Staff Reports | Digital Free Press
Scottsdale City Council during an emergency meeting Tuesday, Aug. 20, amended the official ballot language for Prop 490, which is a .15% sales tax rate ballot measure.
This action followed the recent Arizona Court of Appeals ruling that Scottsdale’s ballot measure could not proceed as written. Officials at City Hall tell the Digital Free Press elected leaders at City Hall amended the ballot question language pursuant to the court’s Aug. 20 order.
The new ballot language passed with a 4 to 3 vote with members of City Council Barry Graham, Kathy Littlefield and Tammy Caputi dissenting.
Read the new language for yourself HERE.
City Hall officials report that with this change, the city will send the ballot language to Maricopa County so the sales tax ballot question will remain on the upcoming Nov. 5 general election ballot.
In a reversal of a lower court, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that Scottsdale’s ballot measure could not proceed as written.
The Goldwater Institute lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of former Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane and residents Susan Wood and Yvonne Cahill, began earlier this summer with the most recent legal opinion stemming from a July 22 appeal. Read the ruling for yourself HERE.
In little over a year, the sales tax in question — originally meant to fund land purchases and the creation of new trailheads within the McDowell Sonoran Preserve — will sunset within municipal bounds, but city leaders have come to terms on a November ballot question asking voters to replace the expiring sales tax with a .15% sales tax to be installed for the next 30 years.
In 1995 and in 2004, Scottsdale voters approved a 0.20% tax — the 0.20% preserve tax today in question — to fund land acquisition only and a 0.15% tax to fund land acquisition and improvements in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Revenues from the 0.20% preserve tax and the 0.15% land and improvement tax were used to acquire over 30,000 acres of land now knows as the McDowell Sonoran Preserve that entailed constructing 12 trailheads and 235 miles of trails in the preserve.
Today, the McDowell Sonoran Preserve is a beloved amenity known the world over as the single largest municipal land preserve in the United States, officials at City Hall say.
