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Oro Valley working group favors broad revenue language, emphasizes community engagement over naming taxes
Summary
A resident working group reviewed draft revenue goals for Oro Valley's 10-year plan and agreed to keep policy language broad to avoid "triggering" voters on items like property tax, while asking staff to add concrete actions and stronger public engagement and education on revenue options.
Malini Sims, the town's principal planner, opened the session Tuesday and said the meeting's purpose was "to wrap up the conversation to get your initial feedback on the draft goals, policies, and actions." The group focused first on revenue sources, agreeing broadly to avoid naming specific taxes in the plan and to emphasize community engagement to identify alternatives.
The choice to keep FG1 and related items broad reflected concerns that singling out options such as a property tax could "trigger" residents and complicate voter approval, several participants said. "If you put property tax as an option, even in the language, you're going to trigger people," Rosa said. Members instead urged clearer examples and actions under an overarching policy to guide staff and the council toward feasible revenue tools.
Some attendees, including Frank and Joe, pushed for more specificity so the plan would provide clearer marching orders to implementers, while others recommended preserving flexibility. Sims said staff will "add examples to H1" and incorporate the group's suggested clarifications while keeping the top-level language general so it remains effective over a 10-year horizon.
The discussion also covered revenue strategies that had arisen in other working groups, including supporting or creating revenue-generating businesses and strengthening tourism promotion. Several members suggested moving broad statements into a policy and nesting specific actions underneath, such as marketing campaigns or projects to increase customer base near commercial corridors.
Participants asked staff to include educational materials in the plan so residents can understand trade-offs among fees, taxes, annexation and development choices. "More education about the sources of state shared revenue is appropriate," Mark said, noting state-shared income comes in multiple streams and is affected by local decisions. Sims said staff will add introductory background and clarify terms to make the finance section more accessible.
Sims closed by outlining next steps: staff will assemble a 30% draft integrating the group's input, circulate it to working-group members in May for line edits, and return with a more polished draft in August before public review in the fall.
