By Parker Leavitt | The Republic | azcentral.com
A power struggle among Valley cities over population figures and more than $1 billion in state revenue remains unresolved after months of wrangling.
City leaders from across Arizona have held formal talks and last month voted to seek special legislation, but the issue continues to threaten regional trust and cooperation.
The dispute stems from Arizona’s competitive shared-revenue system, which uses a population-based formula to calculate each community’s cut of state income tax, sales tax and vehicle fees.
Phoenix gets about $450 million a year, for example, while Scottsdale gets about $70 million. Cities use the money to help fund services such as police and fire protection and road construction.
Arizona currently uses population data from the most recent decennial census, taken in 2010, to divvy up the state funds.
