Just about everyone agrees that the streets in Flagstaff are in dire need of repair and resurfacing, but that is where the agreement ends.
Should there be a temporary increase in the city’s sales tax? If so, how much and for how long? While the roads are under repair, would it make sense to work on undergrounding the city’s utilities and making the roadways safer for pedestrians and cyclists? How about relieving traffic congestion?
To help bring the issue into focus, the Flagstaff City Council assembled an ad hoc committee tasked with determining a feasible plan and the best way to carry it out.
“It’s still in the beginning here. We needed some context to decide if there should be a larger sales tax for a shorter period or a smaller sales tax for a longer period,” said Mayor Jerry Nabours. “We were looking at one percent for three years when we started. That would generate $15 million a year. When it was one percent, we were done in three years.”
Now being strongly considered is a ¼-cent raise in the sales tax for 20 years.
Councilman Jeff Orvatis said he may support the ¼-cent sales tax increase, but he wants to be sure the city does not find itself in the same situation a few years down the road, so to speak.
“It will be imperative that this Council and future Councils maintain the streets,” Oravits said.
Another critical component of a sales tax increase will be that the funds can only be used for street repairs. There can be no future redirection of funds. Any tax must also sunset, so there will be no permanent tax increase.
Oravits said the city manger estimates it will take $4.5 million a year after the streets are in good repair to keep them that way. He blames the current condition of the streets on former Councils.
“In my opinion, misplaced spending priorities over the past decade contributed to this situation. Now we have few options to repair our streets and must take action to halt further deterioration,” he said. “So I want to see $4.5 million from our existing budget to cover maintenance. For reference, this budget year, we have $3.6 million budgeted. That’s up from $1.2 million when I first took office in 2012. So, we still need to find about $1 million from our existing $60 million budget.”
It has been suggested that the tax should apply only to those who use the streets, but Oravits says that would not be fair.
“Everyone uses our streets; even if you don’t drive on them, goods and services are delivered to you on them. I am convinced that a sales tax is the fairest mechanism to utilize.”
At first glance, increasing Flagstaff’s sales tax by ¼ cent does not seem like a lot and it probably is not a lot for the average person, but for people who sell big-ticket items like cars, it is a huge sticking point.
“To car dealers, that represents several hundred dollars,” Nabours said. “The dealers tell us people will go elsewhere over a few hundred dollars. It’s a few hundred dollars the dealer has to pay. It’s a definite add-on to the car.”
Robby Findlay, owner of Findlay Toyota of Flagstaff, says it is not just car sales that will suffer if the sales tax is increased. It will hurt all big-ticket items such as appliances and all retail shopping.
“If they don’t see what they are after in Flagstaff, it is a short drive to Phoenix,” he said.
Following are Flagstaff’s current tax rates:
City general sales tax – 1 percent
City transportation tax – 0.721 percent
County – 1.125 percent
State – 5.6 percent
Subtotal – 8.446 percent – General taxable sales
City BBB – 2 percent on hotels, restaurant and bars
Total 10.446 percent
Roads to be repaved include:
Country Club Dr.
U. S. Hwy. 89
Soliere Ave.
Roads to be resurfaced include:
Forest Ave.
Cedar Ave.
Lone Tree Rd.
Switzer Canyon Dr.
Forest Ave.
Cedar Ave.
Nabours said the ad hoc committee was put together to give the Council some ideas about what should be done about the road situation. But, if projects in addition to just street repairs are considered, the price tag goes up to $100 million.
“I think it has escalated a little more than the Council had in mind,” he said. “The roads are the first priority.” FBN
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