A REVIEW: Mesa City Council Study Session Thu 26 April 2018

Upload on this blog 8 months after this presentation by Candace Cannistraro to justify the sales tax increase for a Proposed Public Safety Tax . . . it was approved by Mesa voters in the November 2018 General Election. In the same General Election - State-wide - Arizona voters approved Proposition 126 by 64.9%.
In a recent Executive Session the City of Mesa is preparing to challenge the language prepared by the Arizona Attorney General for Prop 126 that impacts the collection of new taxes, like those in the so-called "Public Safety Tax" the city wants to use a portion of off to pay-down pension liabilities
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Note at the opening that Mayor John Giles says they're on TV 
1-a. Hear a presentation, discuss, and provide direction on a proposed sales tax initiative for public safety.  
Management and Budget Director Candace Cannistraro displayed a PowerPoint presentation. (See Attachment 1)

• She indicated that a sales tax increase requires approval from the voters.    
• She emphasized that the Public Safety Operational Resources is a conservative estimate to meet the departments challenges in order to be sustainable. 
• She pointed out that the public safety positions would be phased in over 3-6 years. (See Page 7 of Attachment 1)

   
In response to a question posed by Councilmember Thompson,
Mr. Brady confirmed that a portion of the public safety sales tax could be used towards the unfunded liability on the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS) pensions.
  
In response to a question from Mayor Giles,
Mr. Brady stated that an annual payment to PSPRS is another option to save on interest. 
He noted that other project payments would be affected such as the driving track.
(See Page 7 of Attachment 1)       

In response to a question posed by Councilmember Freeman,
Ms. Cannistraro reported that the sales tax rate comparison sheet shows the neighboring valley tax rates and pointed out that the percentages in bold represent rates that are different from the retail sales tax.
(See Page 9 of Attachment 1) 

It was the consensus of the Council that the proposed .25% City sales tax increase for public safety be placed on the Council agenda to call an election.