Queen Creek voters will have the opportunity to vote on the Permanent Base Adjustment on the Aug. 2 ballot.
The Permanent Base Adjustment does not raise or impose taxes, and it does not allow the Town to spend more than it receives in revenue. It allows the Town to create a balanced budget and spend revenues collected on priorities identified by the Town Council.
The State of Arizona imposes an expenditure limitation on all Arizona cities and towns. This expenditure limitation is based on a formula adopted by the State Legislature in 1979, which took place prior to the Town of Queen Creek’s incorporation in 1989. The formula determines the amount of money that can be used to fund municipal services each year, regardless of the money the Town collects.
Since incorporation, Queen Creek residents have voted in favor of an alternative expenditure limitation, or “Home Rule,” which gives the Town local control over its own budget limits. Instead of going to voters every four years to approve Home Rule, the Town is seeking a permanent base adjustment for local control.
Permanent Base Adjustment would permanently increase the Town’s base limit so that when the State’s expenditure limitation formula is applied, it would result in a limitation that more closely matches the Town’s annual budget.
Based on the State-imposed formula – and without approval of an alternative expenditure limitation – the Town’s total expenditures for the FY21/22 budget to fund all departments (Public Safety, Public Works, Water and Sewer Utilities, Parks & Recreation, and all other departments) and capital improvement projects would have been limited to no more than $63.5 million. For comparison, the Town’s approved budget for FY21/22 was $487.2 million.
Original source can be found here.
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