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 Pros And Cons On The Upcoming Charter Proposal. By Dave Devine and Emil Franzi LAST NOVEMBER, Pima County voters approved a 15-member committee to write a charter that would allow Pima County to assume legislative powers.
This Tuesday, August 5, voters will go to the polls to accept or reject the proposed charter. We've asked two of our regular contributors, Emil Franzi and Dave Devine, to take opposing sides on the charter debate. Each has a 300-word argument followed by a 200-word rebuttal of the other's perspective. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
With Its Restrictions In Place, Taxes Will Be Harder To Raise. By Dave Devine FEWER TAX increases--that's the reason to support a charter for Pima County. It won't guarantee taxes are lowered, but raising them will be harder. Local tax policy is based on a "nickel-and-dime-'em" philosophy. The theory: If people pay small amounts a lot of times, they won't notice it much. People do complain on April 15 and when they receive their property tax statements. But nobody fuses much over daily expenditures on sales and gasoline taxes--even though they add up to large sums annually. The charter will help to change that approach to taxation. It requires voter approval of any new tax. That means that before creating another funding source, like the recently imposed one on RVs, the Board of Supervisors will be more likely to raise existing taxes. So the charter puts them in a corner about taxation. Much of the county's money comes from property tax collections. But raising those rates is a very public--and potentially very politically unpopular--act. Pressure would be on the Board to hold the line on taxes.
It will open up county government for more public scrutiny, always a good thing. Some of the proposals, like a performance auditor and budget impact statements on rezonings, have lofty goals, but they may never amount to much. Other provisions of the document, however, such as requiring public hearings on all proposed ordinances and limiting the use of the emergency clause for legislation, will improve the way the county does business. So support the Pima County Charter. It isn't perfect, but it's better than what we have now. EMIL FRANZI REPLIES: While the charter proposal does call for a public vote for any new tax, it allows present taxes and fees to be raised without one. The only new tax the Board currently has the power to impose is a sales tax, and that requires a unanimous vote--something that hasn't occurred and probably won't. What the charter does do is allow the Board to propose any new tax, including those currently only wet dreams in a bureaucrat's psyche, and hold elections concerning them at odd times, unlike the November general elections that saw voters reject a Pima County sales tax thrice. And it does not preclude the Legislature from empowering the county with more taxing authority. The charter as proposed avoids many issues the framers thought "controversial" for the purpose of getting a charter--any charter--passed by the voters. What the mechanism contains is the seeds for numerous elections over those issues the charter committee avoided--again, elections that will be held at off times with low participation and media attention. There are currently public hearings on all ordinances and there are no emergency clauses. Charter only gives more power to bureaucracy, not you. Vote no August 5.
The Proposed Document Strips The Power From Our Elected Officials And Gives It To The Bureaucracy. By Emil Franzi CHARTER GOVERNMENT proponents promote the myth that it increases local control and makes Pima County more autonomous. They even claim local "independence," as if the charter were a secessionist document. Charter doesn't come close. It still leaves the state Legislature with massive pre-emptive powers to override local decisions. And Pima County will still overpay the same lobbyists to be in Phoenix. The dangers inherent in the charter stem from the elitist and anti-democratic mindset of those who drafted it. It goes far to converting county supervisors to county onlookers by enlarging the unelected bureaucracy via the creation of an unelected auditor and a poorly defined "ethics" panel, commensurably reducing the powers of elected officials. The answer to bad elected public officials is not transferring their powers to unelected public officials or appointed committees. That negates the concept of representative government and replaces it with rule by mandarins and technocrats. The proposed county charter resembles the charter of the City of Tucson, which in turn resembles student government, where council members are little more than potted plants theoretically making "policy," while a bureaucracy they neither hire nor fire "implements" their decisions. We saw how that really works with Tucson Water. Charter government is another bad idea that makes problems it claims to address worse, not better. Reject it August 5. DAVE DEVINE REPLIES: Those against the charter fear it will create more government and that power will be passed from the Board of Supervisors to the bureaucracy. But lower county taxes means less government, not more. Opponents also cite the city government as an example of where elected officials have abdicated their power to the appointed staff. But the Tucson City Council isn't weak because of the city's charter. It is weak because it's made up mostly of weaklings. Oversight mechanisms to be established under the proposed charter, the auditor and ethics panel, will allow for more public review of county government's performance. That will permit people to know more about what's really going on. The Arizona state government in Phoenix now controls much of what Pima County can do. It was the state that mandated the date for the charter election. It's the state that might authorize more local special taxing districts. It's the state that dictates much of what does, or does not, happen in Pima County today.
The voters can change that. Support local control of government.
Support the possibility of keeping a lid on tax increases. Support
the charter on August 5.
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Last May, the committee unveiled its final product--a "starter
charter" with few significant changes for 
There are some other good points about the charter, even if it's
mostly a general compromise document without much substance--sort
of like Jell-O. But it should be supported.
