From imposing burdensome business mandates to pouring hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into a homelessness crisis that’s only gotten worse, you don’t have to look far for examples of local governments’ dereliction of duty in Arizona.
Here are three recent examples (and read the last article in this series here):
Burdensome Business Mandate Goes Down
Will they ever learn? Right on the heels of its previous failed attempt to ram an illegal “prevailing wage” mandate down businesses’ throats, the city of Phoenix tried again—and Tucson soon followed. But their new mandates wouldn’t last for long.
After the Goldwater Institute filed suit on behalf of dozens of businesses, a state court ruled in June that Phoenix and Tucson violated state law by adopting “prevailing wage” ordinances that force businesses competing for taxpayer-funded public-works projects to pay employees above-market wages. These mandates would have resulted in taxpayers paying more and waiting longer for projects to get done, in employees having a harder time finding work, and in businesses suffering from higher costs and fewer opportunities.
The decision is a victory for Arizona taxpayers—who deserve to have public works projects run as closely as possible to true market conditions, and for workers themselves, who deserve to do work in a competitive environment where wages are based on merit. Only time will tell whether Phoenix and Tucson have learned their lesson, but either way, the ruling serves as a warning to local governments that brazenly flout the law: not on Goldwater’s watch.
Voters Speak, City Ignores Them
Last year, 81% of El Mirage voters rejected a bond spending package that would have given the green light for the city to expand city hall and build a new police station, fire station, and city court building—while also hiking taxes to pay for the city council’s pet projects.
The city council didn’t care.
Despite voters’ overwhelming opposition, the city council approved spending for construction of a new city hall and police station. In so doing, the council is blatantly ignoring the people they represent, instead opting to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on projects that the public does not want.
These two projects will be funded through the city’s capital improvement plan, and a spokesperson for the city justified the unwanted spending by saying “the city’s capital improvement plan did not include a new court building or fire station.” In other words, the city claims it is doing nothing wrong because it is going through with only two of the projects that voters rejected, rather than all four. It’s clear that El Mirage’s leaders do not take its residents’ wishes seriously when they want to spend taxpayers’ hard-earned money.
A bottomless pit
The figures are staggering. Homelessness rose 92% between 2018 and 2023 in Phoenix—despite the city pouring at least $180 million into the spiraling crisis. It’s nearly the same story in Pima County (which includes Tucson), where homelessness has risen 60% since 2018.
That’s to say nothing of the governments’ lack of transparency and accountability. Phoenix’s Office of Homeless Solutions only accounts for a small fraction of the dollars it has allocated—$47.6 million of the city’s spending—and even then, the breakdown is vague and incomplete. Meanwhile, Pima County can account for just $17.8 million in homelessness spending since 2021, yet estimates from other sources range from $27 million to $210 million.
Taxpayers deserve a clear and accurate accounting of the vast resources that their local governments have dedicated to the homelessness crisis. Cities should also be able to explain why they keep spending hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars and demanding more—even as the crisis continues to spital. Phoenix and Tucson have become a bottomless pit of taxpayer dollars, with little to nothing to show for it.
Austin VanDerHeyden is the Director of Municipal Affairs at the Goldwater Institute.
