Flagstaff City Council calls Nov. 3, 2026 special election for 0.5% sales tax and $40M bond for public safety

The Flagstaff City Council voted to adopt two resolutions calling a special election on Nov. 3, 2026 to ask voters whether to approve a 0.5% transaction privilege (sales) tax and the issuance of $40,000,000 in general obligation bonds to fund public safety staffing, equipment and infrastructure.

Shannon Anderson, assistant city manager, told the council the recommended package comes from a citizen committee that reviewed presentations, budgets and national standards. "The half cent sales tax will provide ongoing resources to hire additional all risk firefighters that respond to wildland fire calls, residential or commercial fires, and provide emergency medical services," Anderson said, adding the city estimates the half‑cent would generate about $18,200,000 in revenue a year and would run from July 1, 2027, through June 30, 2042.

Stacy Salzberg, communications and civic engagement director and city clerk, said her office would prepare the county materials, open a call for pro and con statements from the public and correct a typographical error in the sales tax ballot language before submission. She read aloud the formal resolution orders: one to call a bond election to issue general obligation bonds to be repaid with secondary property taxes for public safety infrastructure and equipment, and the other to place a 0.5% sales tax increase dedicated to enhanced public safety services on the ballot.

Members of the citizen Public Safety Committee and residents urged the council to proceed. BJ Dempsey, who said he served on the committee, told the council the committee identified roughly $500,000,000 in public safety needs and recommended focusing on the most urgent items now, supporting both a $40,000,000 bond and the sales tax. "The need was $500,000,000," Dempsey said. Casey Gonzalez, another commenter, praised the committee process and emphasized voter education: "The math part of it doesn't lie," Gonzalez said. Michael Oliver described frontline staffing as a crisis: "Public safety cannot continue to do more with less," he said.

Council members praised the citizen committee, outside consultants and staff for producing a transparent record of meetings and analysis. Several council members said public outreach and education will be important if the measures are placed before voters; one council member asked whether the ballot question could include a parenthetical "half cent" next to "0.5%" to reduce confusion, and staff said they would check formatting and word‑count constraints and emphasize the wording in publicity materials.

Procedurally, the council moved to read each resolution by title, the city clerk read the resolution text onto the record, and both resolutions were adopted by voice vote; the council recorded affirmative responses and the mayor announced the motion carried.

If approved by voters, the sales tax would provide ongoing revenue for firefighter and police staffing, training, equipment, radios and related public safety needs; the $40,000,000 general obligation bond would be a one‑time source for construction, vehicles and capital equipment and would be supplemented by development impact fees where available. The clerk said the bond would be repaid with secondary property taxes, while the sales tax would be a transaction privilege tax dedicated to enhanced public safety services.

The council's action sets the next steps for election materials and public education ahead of the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot. The clerk will finalize corrected ballot language and submit materials to the county.