1820 W. Washington St. Phoenix, AZ 85007 Phone: 602-258-5786 Fax: 602-253-3874 league@mg.state.az.us http://www.azleague.org 2006 MUNICIPAL POLICY STATEMENT Legislative Advocacy on Behalf of Arizona Cities and Towns 1820 W. Washington St. Phoenix, AZ 85007 Phone: 602-258-5786 Fax: 602-253-3874 league@mg.state.az.us http://www.azleague.org EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OFFICERS Douglas Coleman Mayor, Apache Junction Boyd Dunn Mayor, Chandler MEMBERS Diane Vick, Mayor, Bullhead City Gilbert Lopez, Vice Mayor, Coolidge Sandra Burk, Mayor, Eagar Byron Jackson, Mayor, Eloy Joe Donaldson, Mayor, Flagstaff Steve Berman, Mayor, Gilbert Elaine M. Scruggs, Mayor, Glendale Stanley M. Gibson, Mayor, Globe Jim Cavanaugh, Mayor, Goodyear Keno Hawker, Mayor, Mesa Paul Loomis, Mayor, Oro Valley Phil Gordon, Mayor, Phoenix Ginny Handorf, Councilmember, Pinetop-Lakeside Rowle Simmons, Mayor, Prescott Verlyn Michel, Mayor, Quartzsite Mary Manross, Mayor, Scottsdale Gerry Whipple, Councilmember, Show Low Thomas J. Hessler, Mayor, Sierra Vista Bob Rivera, Mayor, Thatcher Robert E. Walkup, Mayor, Tucson Ken Edes, Mayor, Williams Larry Nelson, Mayor, Yuma 1 INTRODUCTION The League of Arizona Cities and Towns presents its 2006 Municipal Policy Statement, which contains policy positions and action items that were collaboratively chosen by all Arizona's cities and towns. We invite you to review this document to better understand the issues that Arizona's municipalities have selected for discussion and action within their communities, at the State Capitol and in Congress. Please do not hesitate to contact a member of the League staff if you would like more information about any of the issues contained in the Policy Statement. We look forward to working with you to accomplish these priorities. 2 2006 CORE PRINCIPLES The League's legislative policies are guided by two core principles that reflect the partnership between state and local government. These principles form the backbone of the League's legislative program. STATE SHARED REVENUE Arizona voters chose, through a series of initiatives, to return a portion of tax revenues back to local communities through state shared revenue. This is provided to municipalities in exchange for losses in local taxing authority such as income and luxury taxes. This system supports local choice and selfgovernment by allowing city and town councils across the state to decide how tax dollars are spent within the community. State shared revenue funds the basic services that citizens count on such as police and fire protection, streets, courts, parks and libraries. With these vital services in mind, the League urges the Legislature to retain state shared revenue at consistent levels to assure adequate local community services in response to local needs. LOCAL CONTROL Cities and towns are voluntarily created by the residents of a community to provide local self-government and services, which allows Arizona's cities and towns to embody the diversity of the State of Arizona. The only way that Arizona's cities and towns can fully serve their unique constituencies is through allowing local governing bodies the freedom to make decisions at a local level that best meet the needs of the community. Thus, the League urges the Legislature to oppose efforts to erode local control and authority through preemptions and mandates. 3 2006 PRIORITY RESOLUTIONS Each year, the League's membership selects five priority resolutions for the upcoming legislative session. Designation as a priority resolution means that the issue will receive special emphasis in the League's legislative program. This year's priorities reflect the wide range of issues that affect municipalities in the state. The League of Arizona Cities and Towns: • Urges the Legislature to retain state-shared revenues to cities and towns. • Urges the Legislature to repay the $118 million that was diverted from the Highway User Revenue Fund (HURF) to the State General Fund in FY 2006, and to reduce the on-going diversion of HURF revenues. • Urges the Legislature to support efforts to preserve and fully utilize the Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund through full allocation of state lottery moneys to the Fund as directed by the voters. • Urges the Legislature to expand the statutes regulating the sale of pseudoephedrine products in all forms by requiring photo identification, the signing and maintenance of a written log listing the persons purchasing the product, and having these products only dispensed by pharmacists or licensed pharmacy technicians, or other methods that are believed to be effective. • Urges Congress to preserve and fully fund the Community Development Block Grant Program. 4 2006 RESOLUTIONS General Government Fiscal Policy Public Health and Safety Community Concerns Federal Policy Initiatives GENERAL GOVERNMENT The League of Arizona Cities and Towns: • Urges the Legislature to clarify that the same standard applies for signers of initiative, referendum and recall petitions as for signers of nomination petitions. • Urges the Legislature to enhance owner identification requirements for rental property when crime and blight issues arise on rental property. • Urges the Legislature to clarify which entities are eligible for compensation as a result of annexation and the provision of municipal services to be annexed area. • Urges the Legislature to adopt new law to require homeownersí associations to allow ìfirst responseî vehicles to park on neighborhood streets or in private driveways. • Urges the Legislature to allow private contractors to enforce municipal parking regulations. 5 2006 RESOLUTIONS FISCAL POLICY The League of Arizona Cities and Towns: • Urges the Legislature to maintain full funding of the Local Transportation Assistance Fund (LTAF II) program, as established in existing state statute. • Urges the Legislature to provide local governments with the much needed tools to encourage economic development in cities and towns. • Urges the Legislature to preserve and provide local governments with an array of much needed tools to encourage economic redevelopment in cities and towns. • Urges the Legislature to submit to the voters of the State a constitutional amendment authorizing voters in Arizona cities and towns to issue bonds for public safety and street and roadway purposes up to 20% of the city or town's assessed value. • Urges the Legislature to enact legislation that would provide a base level of funding for the Stateís towns with populations under 1,500. • Urges the Legislature to clarify that cities and towns may use Construction Manager at Risk (CM@Risk), Design Build and Job Ordering Contracting for bond-financed capital projects. • Urges the Legislature to allow municipalities to seek reimbursements on state lands when the property is auctioned. 6 2006 RESOLUTIONS • Urges the Legislature to postpone the payment of accrued property taxes until the property is sold when cities and towns acquire property involuntarily under the improvement district laws. • Urges the Legislature to support research and development tax credits for new bioscience industries. • Urges the Legislature to establish a program similar to the federal New Market Tax Credits Program, focusing on the development of small businesses within locally designated redevelopment areas. PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY The League of Arizona Cities and Towns: • Urges the Legislature to adopt new law to restrict convicted sex offenders from living within two thousand feet of a primary or secondary school or child care facility. • Urge the Legislature to clarify the list of dangerous crimes against children (A.R.S. ß 13-604.01) to ensure that the luring of a minor for sexual exploitation receives the intended mandatory minimum of five-years in prison. • Urges the Legislature to reform health care policy in order to retain and attract physicians so that all Arizonans have access to adequate health care. • Urges the Legislature to continue the current 911 surcharge of 37-cents in order to fund the ongoing administration, operation and management of the stateís enhanced 911 emergency telephone systems. continued on p. 8 7 2006 RESOLUTIONS • Urges the Legislature to prohibit sex offenders sentenced to lifetime probation from having their sentences commuted. • Urges the Legislature to prevent clustering of sex offenders by enacting a law prohibiting more than five sex offenders on probation within Maricopa County from living within a 1.1 square mile radius. COMMUNITY CONCERNS The League of Arizona Cities and Towns: • Urges the Legislature to provide start-up funding to newly incorporated municipalities as an advance on their first allocation of state shared revenue. • Urges Arizona's Congressional Delegation, the Governor, Legislature, State Committees and Agencies, and local governments to continue to maintain and develop policies that preserve the mission viability of Arizona's military facilities by limiting encroachment of all types, supporting compatible land uses around such facilities and ensuring the capability for future mission expansions. • Urges the Legislature to enhance the regulation of deferred presentment businesses (i.e. pay day loan establishments). • Urges the Legislature to modify the school facilities funding formula to include Head Start when calculating space for early childhood programs. 8 2006 RESOLUTIONS FEDERAL POLICY INITIATIVES The League of Arizona Cities and Towns: • Urges Congress to oppose the Preserving Innovation in Telecom Act (H.R. 2726) that would preempt local governments from offering telecommunications services, information services or cable services in any geographic area in which a private entity is already offering a substantially similar service. • Urges Congress to reauthorize HOPE VI and support federal programs that help cities and towns achieve economic revitalization through mixed use (residential/commercial, market rate and subsidized housing) development. • Urges Congress to recognize that air-conditioning and summer utility assistance for the poor, the elderly and the disabled is a matter of public health and safety in Arizona, just as heating and protection from cold is recognized in other parts of the Country. • Urges Congress to reimburse state and local governments, as well as health care providers, for the public safety and healthcare costs associated with undocumented persons. 9 POLICY GUIDELINES The League of Arizona Cities and Towns was founded to defend the principle that local decisions are best made by local decision makers and not by another level of government. Since cities and towns are voluntarily created by the people of a community to provide local self-government and services, each municipality acting through its elected governing body is entitled to freedom for purposes of self-government and local determination. Local decision making encompasses all aspects of municipal living, including the provision of basic services. Ultimately, these decisions embody the common values and aspirations of the residents of cities and towns in Arizona. In addition to basic services, there are quality of life issues - a clean environment, a superior educational system, the safety of citizens to be free from violence, adequate social service programs and the preservation of our natural amenities for future generations, which are critical to the growth and maintenance of viable communities. In the spirit of preserving and enhancing local decision making, the following are the policies that guide the legislative program of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns: • The right to exercise local self-determination is the cornerstone of municipal policy and serves to strengthen and perpetuate our federal system of government. Any attempts to preempt local authority will be opposed. • Incorporated city and town governments are the best vehicle for providing the people with responsible local government and services. • The diversity of problems and needs in Arizona communities requires flexibility in legislation so that local officials can meet those unique needs and problems in the context of each city or town. 10 POLICY GUIDELINES • Neither Congress nor the Arizona Legislature should mandate programs and services upon cities and towns without commensurate funding. • Attempts to limit local taxing authority or to mandate state collection of local taxes should be opposed. • State collected, locally shared revenues should be maintained and any reduction, whether directly through the elimination of such revenues, or indirectly, through the exemption of certain classes of property or activities from the application of taxes, should be opposed, unless other equal revenue sources are made available to local government. • The necessary authority to adequately manage the urban environment is critical to meeting the demands of urban growth. The police power must remain as the basis for local planning and zoning. • The concept and use of joint exercise of powers agreements in the fostering of intergovernmental cooperation among all levels of government are strongly supported. • The continued authority of local government to effectively manage its employees through local personnel policies is appropriate. Any proposed mandating of specific personnel practices for local employees or selected groups of employees should be opposed. • The development of an adequate and safe transportation system to meet the needs of our rapidly growing population is of significant importance to all levels of government in Arizona. 11 LEAGUE GOVERNANCE AND POLICY Founded in 1937, the League of Arizona Cities and Towns is owned, financed and governed by its municipal members and exists to promote local self-government and municipal independence. The League provides a variety of services that assist cities and towns in meeting the needs of their citizens, including the provision of training, research, technical code and ordinance assistance, innovative forums, conferences, informative publications and online services. In addition, the League represents, and advocates for, the collective interests of all Arizona's cities and towns at the state and federal levels of government. League policy is developed through an annual resolutions process. Each mayor, or the councilmember that he or she designates, is invited to participate in the Resolutions Committee. Once the policy has been developed, the entire membership votes and adopts a Municipal Policy Statement to guide the League's policies and lobbying efforts for the coming Legislative Session. The League's goals and objectives are directed by a 25 member Executive Committee consisting of mayors and councilmembers from across the State who are elected to two year terms by the entire membership at the Annual Conference. 12 LEAGUE STAFF Kenneth L. Strobeck, Executive Director kstrobeck@mg.state.az.us Kevin Adam, Legislative Director kadam@mg.state.az.us C. Thomas Belshe, Member Services Director tbelshe@mg.state.az.us Mollie Dumitrache, Receptionist mdumitra@mg.state.az.us Jill Goff, Administrative Assistant jgoff@mg.state.az.us Marisa Hoskins, Communications & Education Assistant mhoskins@mg.state.az.us Matthew S. Lore, Communications & Education Director mlore@mg.state.az.us Sandra D. Morari, Office Manager smorari@mg.state.az.us Christine Smith-Humphrey, Administrative Assistant csmith-h@mg.state.az.us Brent Stoddard, Member Services Associate bstoddar@mg.state.az.us Belinda Villela, Administrative Assistant bvillela@mg.state.az.us 13