PHOENIX

What’s on the ballot? A guide to the Phoenix election

Ricardo Cano
The Republic | azcentral.com
What's on the ballot this year in Phoenix? Azcentral has your guide.
  • Registered voters in Phoenix will begin receiving mail-in ballots July 30
  • Several propositions, a mayoral race and four City Council races are on the ballot
  • Election Day is Aug. 25

This year’s elections for Phoenix mayor and City Council will go down as one of the least competitive in the city’s recent history, but voters will have a say as to whether billions in tax money will be invested to bolster the city’s transportation infrastructure.

Three of the five incumbents in this year’s mayoral and district races are running unopposed. Mayor Greg Stanton and Councilman Daniel Valenzuela are facing challengers who have a steep uphill climb to unseat the incumbents.

Proposition 104, the highest-profile item on the ballot, will ask voters to invest in a 35-year, 0.7 percent sales tax to expand the light rail, add more bus lines and maintain the city’s roads.

See our series on Prop 104.

Registered voters will begin receiving mail-in ballots — the most popular voting method for Phoenix residents — on Thursday. The mayoral election and all Council races are officially nonpartisan.

What will voters be deciding in this year’s elections? Here’s a look at what’s on the ballot.

Everything you need to know about the Phoenix election

PHOENIX MAYOR

Races draw fewest candidates in 15 years | Mayor raises nearly $1M in re-election bid

Businesswoman Anna Brennan and Matt Jette, who has run unsuccessfully for state and federal office, are vying to unseat Mayor Greg Stanton.

If elected, Brennan said she plans to focus on using her experience as a business owner to make the city more business-friendly and limit the size of local government.

Jette has run for U.S. Congress as a Democrat and an independent, and Arizona governor as a Republican. This time, he’s running as an independent and wants the city to partner with schools and universities to promote economic growth. He also wants to limit the power of the city manager.

Stanton, a Democrat, is running for a second term in the mayor’s office. A candidate must earn at least 50 percent plus one of the votes cast to win the election outright and avoid a November runoff.

CITY COUNCIL

District 1: Councilwoman Thelda Williams, who first was elected to the City Council in 1989, is running unopposed. The district covers a large portion of northwest Phoenix, including Deer Valley. Williams, the longest-tenured Council member, is slated to serve her third-consecutive four-year term.

District 3: Councilman Bill Gates, also in a race with no challenger, is part of the City Council’s Republican minority. Gates, first elected in 2009 to fill the District 3 seat, is expected to win his second-consecutive term on the Council. Gates’ district covers North Mountain, Moon Valley, Sunnyslope and Paradise Valley Mall.

District 5: Incumbent Daniel Valenzuela and challenger Felix Garcia are competing for the Council’s District 5 seat.

Valenzuela first won the seat in a runoff election in 2011 largely due to a high turnout of first-time Latino voters.

Garcia, a Republican, leads the ZOE Foundation, a non-profit that provides health-care education and assistance to families of cancer patients. According to his campaign website, his agenda includes supporting small businesses, tax-spending transparency, maintaining safe neighborhoods, and economic development and growth.

District 7: Councilman Michael Nowakowski’s District 7 race rounds out the trio of uncontested contests in the election. Nowakowski, a Democrat, was first elected to the City Council in 2007. The district covers areas of downtown and southwest Phoenix. As in other uncontested districts, potential challengers filed initial paperwork to run for a Council seat but never followed through.

BALLOT MEASURES

Proposition 100: Voters will decide whether to agree to the City Council-approved General Plan for Phoenix. The plan — popularly referred as “PlanPHX” — was adopted by the Council in March and aims at creating a thriving downtown and make the city more walkable.

The proposition, an update to the city’s 2002 General Plan, was created with community input.

Proposition 101: This proposal is an extension of a ballot measure first passed in 2000. It essentially gives the City Council the ability to set its own yearly budget amount by majority vote.

If passed, the Council will continue to set the city’s expenditure limitations. If voters reject the proposal, the city would have to revert back to state guidelines, resulting in an estimated $928 million budget reduction for the 2016-17 fiscal year.

Proposition 102: Voter approval of this proposition would allow the city to pay any claims or demands against the city electronically. This proposal would amend language in the city charter that makes payment for claims against the city possible only through a physical format with a signature from the city manager.

Proposition 103: The pension reform proposal would change how the city calculates its employees’ pensions and bar employees from accumulating unused sick days toward pension payments.

If voters pass Proposition 103, employee contribution rates for pensions would be capped at 11 percent of annual salary for those hired after July 1, 2013.

Supporters say the ballot measure would help the city control its mounting pension expenses. The plan would save the city $38 million over 20 years, according to the city committee that developed the proposal.

Proposition 104: The 35-year proposal will ask voters to approve a 0.7 percent sales tax to fund light-rail expansion, add bus routes and street improvements. The sales tax, which equals seven cents on a $10 purchase, would last until 2050.

Light-rail expansion is the highest-profile piece of Prop. 104. If passed, the proposal would add 42 new miles to the 13.5 miles of light rail that pass through Phoenix. Proposed routes could include stops near Grand Canyon University in west Phoenix, the ASU West campus in Glendale and Paradise Valley Mall.

Opponents of Prop. 104 say the proposal’s price tag is too steep and would serve only a fraction of the city’s population. Supporters say the tax is vital to Phoenix’s future and would spur economic and cultural growth.