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The Town of Florence primary election is on August 30th.  In addition to voting for the Mayor and three Town Council seats, the voters will decide if Florence should or should not retain local control when voting on the Home Rule Option, otherwise known as Prop 411.

A “yes” vote on Prop 411 represents that you want the Town to retain local control, determine its own expenditure limitation, and adopt a Town budget based on existing revenues and services for the next four years.

A “no” vote on prop 411 represents that you want the State to determine the Town’s expenditure limitation, and the Town to adopt a budget subject to the state-imposed expenditure limitation formula for the next four years.

Prop 411 does not impact the amount of taxes or fees the Town collects.  A “no” vote does not reduce taxes or fees and a “yes” vote does not increase taxes or fees.  Prop 411 is specifically about how much the Town can spend, regardless of the taxes or fees it collects.

The state-imposed expenditure limitation formula includes the Base Limit amount of money non-chartered cities and towns in Arizona spent in their Fiscal Year 1979/1980 budget, with adjustments, as determined when the home rule option was created in 1980 by amendment to the Arizona State Constitution.

Florence voters first approved the local home rule option in 1982 and have approved it eight out of the nine elections.