This week, a lawsuit was filed against the Town of Payson over the approval of a $70 million emergency bond measure without a public vote.
The Goldwater Institute filed the lawsuit on behalf of Payson resident, Deborah Rose, arguing that the emergency clause in the bond measure was unnecessary and did not give residents a chance to vote on it.
The Goldwater Institute is asking a Gila County Superior Court judge for a temporary restraining order in the case.
The Goldwater Institute says the town misapplied the law to create a loophole preventing citizens from challenging the bond measure that will put taxpayers in debt for 25 years.
“Our leaders want our money, but not our vote,” Deborah says. “They’re trying to take advantage of legal loopholes to saddle their own constituents with tens of millions of dollars of debt, systematically stripping power from the people by ignoring laws and twisting their truths.”
Under the pretext of an “emergency,” the Payson Town Council voted last month to take on $70 million in bonds without letting residents weigh in via referendum. That violates the Arizona Constitution, argues Goldwater.
Goldwater is asking for an injunction and for the court to declare the measure unlawful and void, and to order the Town Council not to pass such a measure without giving Payson voters the opportunity to exercise their constitutional right to organize a referendum and vote on it.
When the council approved the bond measure, it slipped in an “emergency clause,” stating that the measure would go into effect immediately, without letting residents who might oppose the measure organize a referendum and put the issue to a vote.
The Goldwater Institute argues:
The “so-called “emergency” here is nothing more than town officials’ apparent belief that interest rates might rise in coming months, and that they’ll secure slightly better municipal bond terms now than they could in 30 days if they gave residents the opportunity to organize a referendum.
But government officials’ efforts to time the market, based on pure speculation about financial trends, is not an “emergency.” And it certainly doesn’t justify bypassing the democratic process and imposing $70 million of debt on Payson residents without giving them a say in the matter.
The referendum process is meant to ensure Arizonans have a voice in their government, and a say in decisions that affect them. The government can’t abuse its emergency powers to pass bond measures without democratic accountability.
First I’d heard of this. Took a look into it, and it turns out much of the Payson Town Council that did this lost their elections last month and are now lame ducks. Regardless of the arguments for or against whatever they’re borrowing this money for (nobody seems to cover that aspect) these guys have NO business committing Payson taxpayers to take on this debt for years to come when they’re on their way out the door. Good for the Goldwater people, and I hope they win – between that and the Town Council’s ginned-up “emergency” bypass of Payson voters, this looks like about as deserving a test-case as you’ll find.
The bigger problem with local governments, which has existed for decades, is the lack of people with the ability to forward think, such as annexing land without having the Infrastructure(Utilities Police and Fire) in place to service impending development.
Cities like Goodyear that annexed land south to I-8 doesn’t have any Police and Fire Services south of the Estrella Mountains, yet still sends property owners a property tax bill.
Then next year all the Infrastructure Entities start panicking as they are severely over budget and cannot supply new development. The former administrations is sometimes gone with the wind and passes all of the problems to someone else.
“Our leaders?” Gee, show me one. Just like the current tu*d of mayor in Tucson… wants to raise taxes again on people who have been over-burdened with taxes for years. But, what the hell… it’s only (our) money…. not theirs. I’m sure a payraise for governement slobs comes with the raise in taxes.
Buy the way… whenever they want to float a bond and you CAN vote on it, you better think long and hard about it because it’s always YOUR money they’re taking. Nothing is free from a politician.
gee to bad WE THE PEOPLE can’t vote on CONgress spending and funding
like illegal war in ukraine
Governments now at any level think that they know better than the voters and if you don’t think so, just ask any of them. Oh, and BTW kids, if the courts allow this to stand, the pay back on the bonds will be much more than 70 million. What a joke our governments have become.
Perhaps the towns citizens should recall their council member’s 🤔
Wow, that sure is a serious emergency . The Town Council might have to pay a higher interest rate to put the citizens of Payson into $70 billion worth of debt without asking the citizens to comment on it. Sounds like a Town Council that believes that their judgment on financial matters is much more important that the views of their citizens. This has the appearance of a Town Council that is trying to pull a fast one. Was the vote to approve the debt taken in the middle of the night? In executive session? Makes me wonder if the council members had anything to gain personally from this action.
Good.
Go for it, Goldwater and Rose!
I hate guv ‘officials’ more and more every day – human filth1