Tucson voters will soon weigh in on new sales tax after Kris Mayes OKs summer election

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes says Tucson can move forward with an election for a new sales tax on July 30, after a state legislator questioned the legality of the election.

After a recent Tucson City Council vote that would require a summer special election, Sen. Rosanna Gabaldón asked Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes to weigh in on the legality of the move.

The Green Valley Democrat questioned if the city was allowed to hold an election in the summer when state law requires municipalities to hold elections for transaction privilege taxes at the November general election. The election in Tucson, which was originally scheduled for Aug. 6, was moved to July after the state legislature changed the date of the primary election.

Mayes’ opinion supported Tucson’s decision to control the timing of its local elections, noting if a city’s charter conflicts with state law, the municipal law prevails if the issue is a municipal concern.

“The timing of Tucson’s special election to amend its Charter is a matter of purely municipal concern, even though the proposed amendment concerns a transaction privilege tax,” Mayes said in her opinion.

The issue was first brought up at a Feb. 6 meeting, when the Tucson City Council voted in favor of an election for a tax to fund community investments.  Tucson City Attorney Mike Rankin revealed there could be legal issues with the timing of the election.

“The Arizona Legislature over the years amended the state laws to try to dictate the timing of certain types of local elections,” Rankin said. “Over the last ten years, we have had a number of legal battles to preserve the city's charter authority and local control over the scheduling and timing of local elections.”

This is not the first time the state has questioned Tucson’s authority to determine the timing of its elections.

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled on the issue in 2021 after then-Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a lawsuit against Tucson. The suit was in response to the city enacting an ordinance setting off-cycle primary and general election dates to select three city council members. The high court voted 5-1 in support of the city, noting state law gives charter cities autonomy over issues of municipal concern.

Tucson’s charter has, since 1960, required off-cycle elections for electing city officials and for repealing or amending previously adopted city initiative measures. In the November 2018 election, Proposition 408 aimed to change the timing of Tucson’s election from odd-numbered years to even-numbered years, aligning them to federal, state, and county elections. The measure failed.

With the legality question answered, Rankin said in an email the mayor and council will decide what a sales tax proposal will look like. The city expects the issue to be brought to the council at an upcoming meeting.

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Reach the reporter at sarah.lapidus@gannett.com. The Republic’s coverage of southern Arizona is funded, in part, with a grant from Report for America. Support Arizona news coverage with a tax-deductible donation at supportjournalism.azcentral.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kris Mayes OKs sales tax for Tucson's July election