Tempe council amends sales-tax package, adds early-education funding and continues final ballot decision to May 14

Summary

After presentations from city staff, the council amended a proposed Nov. 3 ballot measure that would raise local sales taxes for public safety and transit to also dedicate 0.1% to expand Tempe Pre. Council approved adjustments to the percentages and agreed to continue final action to May 14 for additional public review.

Mayor Corey Woods and Deputy City Manager/Chief Financial Officer Lisette Camacho opened the May 1 discussion of a proposed local sales-tax package designed to close an estimated structural shortfall caused by recent state action and regional changes.

Camacho said the package originally proposed a 0.4% (0.004) local sales-tax dedicated to public safety and a 0.1% (0.001) increase for transit. She told the council the public-safety component was expected to generate about $40.3 million annually and the transit piece about $10.1 million, and that the funding would support additional staff, equipment, park rangers, crime-prevention-through-environmental-design projects and multimodal transit projects. "These are locally controlled dollars that can be reinvested directly into the city services and priorities," Camacho…

Tempe council amends sales-tax package, adds early-education funding and continues final ballot decision to May 14

Summary

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