Phoenix transit tax is full of election games

The perfidy of the City of Phoenix in elections has become boundless.

The city long ago perfected the art of raising taxes in small-turnout elections.

Raising taxes when few voters will show up, and most of those who do are city groupies of some sort, isn't playing fair with the broader electorate the city will be taxing and is supposed to serve.

Nevertheless, timing an election when the chances of success are greatest is hardly a Phoenix original sin. Let's call this an honest cheat.

The honest cheat, however, isn't enough for the current crew at City Hall. They also lie, dissemble and misdirect. And they do it on the ballot itself.

City Hall was intent on defeating an initiative to switch new city workers, other than firefighters and cops, to a defined contribution system, like a 401(k). The ballot language the city concocted included a blatantly false statement that passage would prohibit it from making contributions to a state public safety pension system, including for current firefighters and cops.

For the transportation tax measure on this August's ballot, the city isn't outright lying. Instead, it is relying on false impressions and misdirection.

Phoenix currently has a transportation sales tax of 0.4 percent that doesn't expire until 2020. Proposition 104 would increase the tax to 0.7 percent and extend it to 2051.

That the current tax exists and doesn't expire for another five years, and that Prop. 104 would increase it by 75 percent, would seem pretty fundamental information. Yet there is no inclusion of any of it in the "Description" section of the ballot. Instead, there is promotional language about the "comprehensive transportation plan" the tax would supposedly bring about.

The ballot includes maps of transportation improvements of various sorts. These should be regarded as decorative art. There is nothing in the ballot language that ties the proceeds of the tax to the plans. If the tax is approved, the city can spend the money on anything it deems to be transportation related.

Most tax ballot measures are button-down affairs. Those proposing the tax increase state with some specificity how they at least intend to use the money.

You will search information provided by the city and the campaign committee promoting Prop. 104 in vain for anything that says how the proceeds from the proposed tax will be spent.

Instead, the city has created a huge transportation funding bucket from all sources, including federal funds, regional funds and fare-box revenues. It then identifies intended spending from the big bucket.

But what specific big-bucket spending items will be paid for by the transportation tax voters are being asked to approve? The city and the campaign don't say.

By my own reckoning, approximately half the transportation tax proceeds will be used on existing and expanded light rail. So, the tax isn't really for a balanced multi-modal, comprehensive plan after all. It's light rail heavy.

And that's a gamble. No community is willing to pay for light rail itself, which should tell you something. Instead, everyone wants Uncle Sam to pick up half the tab.

Uncle Sam, however, is broke. Congress is having difficulty cobbling together even a short-term transportation funding bill. During this 35-year period, the Medicare and Social Security trust funds will run dry.

Personally, I believe the rail fixation of our political leadership has cost the Valley the chance to have a regional bus system that truly provides an acceptable alternative to a car for getting around. But put that aside. Surely voters deserve an honest presentation about where their money will go.

Phoenix, however, seems incapable of such an honest presentation. The state Legislature should step in by offering voters a constitutional amendment that requires cities to have candidate elections on the state schedule and ballot measures that deal with spending and taxes on the state's general election ballot, when the most voters will participate. And requires that ballot language be prepared by a neutral agency, such as the county recorder or the Secretary of State.

Voters should know what they are voting on. In the case of the 75 percent increase in Phoenix's transportation tax, five years before it expires, that would be a pig in a poke.

Reach Robb at robert.robb@arizonarepublic.com.