By TJ L’Heureux | Arizona Agenda
Tempe City Council has an issue: Its government is currently operating in the red after it lost about $25 million of tax revenue, mainly because state lawmakers forced a repeal of residential rental taxes.
In an attempt to fix their budget woes, the council has moved quickly — and with little public input — to push forward a plan that would hike the sales tax rate by a half-cent on every dollar spent. But for it to become law, voters will have to approve it in November.
If the half-cent increase is approved by voters, Tempe’s sales tax would become the highest in the East Valley at 2.3%, but still lower than Phoenix (2.8%) and much of the West Valley.
Last night, the council was scheduled to vote on whether to send the tax increase to the ballot, but they delayed the decision to May 14 after Councilman Randy Keating suggested a slight change to the city programs that would benefit from it.
