On October 1, 2024, the Yavapai County Elections Department is now mailing Yavapai County Proposition 479 public information brochures. Or you can read online by visiting the following link: YavapaiVotes.GOV Click on the PR brochure button. On this website you will find a list of questions and answers, as well as arguments in support of this proposal. No objections to this proposal were submitted. There’s also a short video of Elections Director Rollin Custis explaining to County Mayor Maury Thompson how this November election will be different from any other general election in memory.
This November, Yavapai County voters will have the opportunity to vote on Yavapai County Proposition 479, which proposes a permanent adjustment to the county’s base spending limits. If approved by voters, Yavapai County Proposition 479 would allow the county to spend revenue it already receives but cannot spend due to spending restrictions.
“Adjusting the spending limits will not cause Yavapai County to spend more than it receives in revenue and will not increase property taxes or other county taxes,” Chairman Craig Brown said. Yavapai County Proposition 479 simply increases the spending threshold, increasing the amount the county can spend. ”
Proposition 479 proposes a permanent adjustment of $7.9 million to the spending standards established in 1980. The county’s spending threshold was set at the county’s actual expenditures for the 1979-1980 fiscal year of $11,175,381. The spending limit is the maximum amount a county can spend each year on services such as law enforcement, road maintenance and improvements, health care, and disaster response.
Each year, spending limits are adjusted based on county population growth and inflation rates. Over the past decade, state-collected sales taxes shared with counties increased 93 percent from fiscal year 2015 to fiscal year 2023. During that time, the county’s spending limit increased by only 32.5 percent.
The county is spending a lot of money that didn’t exist in 1980. This includes advanced public safety and search and rescue communications equipment, a public-facing website that provides online services, and ongoing legal requirements, as well as the equipment and personnel necessary to meet many other legal requirements. Contains. costs related to public health, safety, welfare, roads, and other infrastructure;
