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Albatross of Debt Weighs on Super Bowl City

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Jerry Weiers lives less than two miles from University of Phoenix Stadium, where the New England Patriots will play the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl on Sunday. Weiers also happens to be the mayor of Glendale.

Yet as politicians, chief executives and tens of thousands of well-heeled fans rub shoulders that day in the stadium in Glendale, a western suburb of Phoenix, he plans to watch the game on television in his living room, because he has not been offered a ticket.

2015 Legislature Faces Familiar Budget Issues

When the Legislature wrapped up its work last summer, members knew when they returned in 2015 they would face some difficult budget issues.
At the time, the projected deficit for the 2015 budget year was in the hundreds of millions of dollars. That projection has grown, with the red ink an expected $1 billion in the budget year starting in July.
Arizona’s Constitution requires that the budget to be balanced each year, and the first go at it will come from Gov. Doug Ducey.

A tale of unequal funding at 2 Arizona schools

Laurie Roberts' Dec. 23 column highlighting public schools that do not receive funding through school tax-credit programs captures a major equity issue. Some school districts have the ability to make use of the program in a far greater capacity than others, which potentially runs afoul of the Arizona constitutional requirement that our schools be "general and uniform."

However, the disparity created by the tax-credit program pales in comparison to the inequity driven by other loopholes in Arizona's school finance system.

Ducey appoints budget advisory committee

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2014/11/17/ducey-a…

Gov.-elect Doug Ducey will take office in January and immediately have to respond to a growing state budget crisis.

According to legislative budget staff, Arizona faces a possible $520 million budget shortfall this fiscal year and a $1 billion shortfall next fiscal year. State law requires the governor to present a budget proposal to the Legislature by Jan. 16.

Voter-approved bond to pay for county hospital upgrades

Voters handily agreed Tuesday to finance a major renovation of the Valley's only public health-care system through bonds that will cost taxpayers $1.6 billion with interest over the next three decades.

Unofficial returns showed 63 percent of Maricopa County voters favored Proposition 480. The ballot measure allows Maricopa Integrated Health System to issue $935 million in general obligation bonds to build a new county hospital, upgrade inpatient and outpatient clinics, and expand behavioral health facilities.

The bonds will be retired through secondary property taxes.

Smuggled cigarettes whack Arizona taxes

Even the best of intentions can run into the law of unintended consequences. And it looks like the "UC" law may be taking a bite out of Arizona's commitment to funding early-childhood development programs.

In 2006, Arizona voters approved Proposition 203, which hiked cigarette taxes by 68 percent in order to fund a variety of programs statewide dedicated to improving the quality of early-childhood development.

It was an ambitious effort, backed by a broad-based coalition of child advocates and supported enthusiastically in these pages of The Republic.
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