Arizona House of Representatives member Consuelo Hernandez (left) and Rep. Alma Hernandez (middle) watch as Pima Area Labor Federation Chair Trish Muir speaks at a press conference against Prop. 414.
Several Democrats from Southern Arizona have come out against a potential sales tax hike on the Tucson ballot next month.
Proposition 414 is a half-cent sales tax that city officials say will produce an estimated $800 million over the next ten years, funding an array of community programs and services the city is lumping under the Safe & Vibrant City: Community Investments Plan. About two-thirds of the funding would be allocated to public safety, which includes police, fire, and 911 services.
The tax was put on the ballot as an investment in public safety, including new police vehicles, body-worn cameras, ladders, and additional staffing.
At a Tuesday news conference, State Representative Consuelo Hernandez, D-Tucson, said Prop. 414 is asking voters for money the city should have already allocated to first responders.
“Shame on the city for not prioritizing their budget to make sure that they can pay for public safety,” she said.
Hernandez and her sister, Representative Alma Hernandez, D-Tucson, have joined several labor groups in urging voters to turn down the half-cent sales tax proposal on March 11, saying the city must re-evaluate its finances, and increase public safety spending within its existing budget.
“We are asking the poorest of our communities to foot the bill for things we should already be prioritizing in our budgets,” Alma Hernandez said.
According to official election materials, the city maintains they need extra money because of the lingering budget issues stemming from former Gov. Doug Ducey’s flat tax.
“If we had done the due diligence, we'd know that what people want is to solve homelessness, to deal with public safety. But we have a billion dollars more than we had 10 years ago, and yet our budget has increased and these priorities keep being underfunded. The money is there, it's just not being used responsibly by our city's leaders,” Former State Representative and third Hernandez sibling Daniel Hernandez said.
The public safety aspect of the proposed tax hike is also controversial, as another group of opponents don’t agree with the millions of dollars earmarked for the Tucson Police Department, which would most notably fund 120 new TPD positions and new aircraft.
Mutual aid organization Community Care Tucson wrote the proposal “underfunds our community’s most urgent needs while promising an egregious giveaway to an already overfunded Tucson Police Department,” in a Tucson Sentinel opinion piece.
Ballots are scheduled to go out this week, and the City Clerk’s office advises ballots should be in the mail by Wednesday, March 5, 2025 for the March 11 election.
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