Another Month, Another Onslaught of Municipal Tax and Fee Increases 

by admin | Jul 7, 2026 | Arizona, Dont CA my AZ, News and Updates

Arizona taxpayers can’t catch a break from their local governments. From water rates and utility bills to property taxes and sales taxes, city councils have spent the last several months approving one increase after another. No matter the justification, the result is always the same: higher costs for the people paying the bills. 

Here are some of the top offenders of the last couple of months:  

Florence 

In the Town of Florence, the town council approved a multi-year water and wastewater rate hike plan that starts with roughly 6–8% increases but compounds over several years into what many residents estimate will amount to around a 64% increase in total utility costs. At a time when families are already struggling with affordability, approving rate hikes of that magnitude is a serious burden on Florence residents. With increases that steep, one would think they’re trying to compete with Gilbert (100%+ increase over 3 years). The increases will start on July 1^st, just in time for summer, so get your pocketbooks ready, Florence residents. 

Tempe 

Tempe has their own slew of problems that deserves an article of its own, self-imposed by mismanagement, obviously. The Tempe City Council recently voted on sending a 0.5% sales tax increase to the ballot for voters in November. This will tax all non-grocery food and is said to give 0.3% to public safety, 0.1% to transit such as light rail and buses and 0.1% to Tempe PRE, a city run free preschool. 

As usual, local leaders are putting all blame on the legislature. One Tempe councilmember said, “Let me remind you what we set out to do with this initially: to address a … deficit that was created not by us but by the Arizona Legislature and the federal government.”  

Meanwhile, this is occurring while the council has decided on things like a $2 million “Mill Ave” sign.  Just plain, silver metal. Nothing special or aesthetic and $2 million is going towards this thing? Right, and it’s the legislature’s fault that they are in a budget deficit of about $24 million. It’s almost as if they didn’t spend your tax dollars on stupid things, they wouldn’t need to keep raising taxes. 

Phoenix 

Are rising costs in the bluest of cities like Phoenix and Tucson even a surprise at this point? The Phoenix Council passed a waste rate increase of ~38% over the next three years, with bills climbing from $37 to more than $51 per month. The city has also proposed increasing property tax collections by nearly $6.3 million, while authorizing additional inflation-based trash fee hikes beginning in 2029. 

Tucson 

Tucson leaders have outlined a grocery list of rate and fee increases in their new budget. For Tucson Water, a proposed 3.5% water rate increases annually for 2027-2030 along with miscellaneous service fees that could increase by 20% depending on the fee. Trash services are going up $3 per month, officially intended for litter removal, encampment cleanup and graffiti removal. In other words, Tucson residents are being asked to foot the bill for problems their leaders have failed to solve. 

If those increases weren’t enough, permit and development services fees are proposed to increase 5%, with building permit valuation tables rising 11.5% on average, a gut punch for anyone trying to build or improve a home in the city. Tucson also previously approved hiking the public utility tax from 4.5% to 5% on utilities operating within the city. Add all of this up and Tucson residents are getting squeezed from every direction, with no end in sight. 

San Tan Valley 

San Tan Valley, a town that just barely incorporated, is already moving fast to tax its residents. The council adopted a $91 million budget on June 3, and the first local sales tax is scheduled for a formal vote on July 1. On top of that, development impact fees are in the pipeline, with builders of new single-family homes potentially paying $537 in park fees and $5,600 in street fees, costs that will almost certainly be passed straight to the homebuyer in the purchase price. Oh, and those park fees? San Tan Valley doesn’t actually have any parks yet, even though residents have been paying park-related fees to Pinal County for years. Welcome to incorporation. 

Scottsdale 

Scottsdale residents are set to see higher utility bills after the City Council approved a 4.5% water rate hike and a 3.5% sewer rate increase following a public hearing on May 19. The sewer increase takes effect July 1, with the water increase following on November 1. City officials call it responsible long-term planning. Residents call it a higher bill. 

Flagstaff 

Flagstaff is proposing a 6.89% increase in primary property taxes, about $500,000 in new revenue, which would push taxes on a $100,000 home from $58.07 to $62.07. The money is said to go to fire and police operations, but don’t city officials always say that when they want to increase costs? It’s always in the name of “public safety.” A public hearing is scheduled for June 16, though given the track record of these hearings across the state, don’t hold your breath that it changes anything. 

Local leaders increasingly behave as though taxpayers are an endless source of revenue, and this cycle of tax, rate, and fee increases will continue as long as their power remains unchecked. Left to their own devices, local governments will continue to extract more from residents through higher taxes and fees, making it harder to afford to live, work, and raise a family in Arizona.  

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Katie Hobbs’ “Energy Promise” to Arizona Ratepayers: Higher Costs, More Subsidies  

by admin | Apr 28, 2026 | Arizona, Dont CA my AZ, News and Updates

Last year, Katie Hobbs, by executive order, established a “task force” headed by her Office of “Sustainability” to develop a report on energy affordability and reliability. This month, her task force submitted their plan which would do the opposite of that: make energy more expensive and less reliable. This shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the “task force” called by Hobbs is made up of solar special interests, environmental activists, her own agencies, and utilities that have all committed to going Net Zero anyway.  

Instead of reading 81 pages that brings nothing new to the table, the only questions that need to be asked (and answered) about the report are below.  

Does it call for new natural gas generation? Not really.  

Does it call on utilities to keep our coal plants open? No, they want to shut them down and “repower” them to “clean” energy.  

Does it pave the way for new nuclear? Not until the mid-2040s, at the earliest. 

What, then, does it advocate doing? Subsize special interests by blanketing state trust land and government buildings with even more solar, wind, and battery storage. The very thing causing utility rates to increase and leading to blackouts.  

Ironically, they recognize that the vast majority of new generation being built in the state right now – 82% of it according to the report – is already coming from solar, wind, and battery storage, while conveniently ignoring that at the same time both of the largest investor owned, monopoly utilities – APS and TEP – are currently seeking double digit rate hikes. And these rate hikes aren’t the first. Since Hobbs has taken office, the cost of electricity for residential ratepayers has gone from 12.63 cents per KWh to 16.03 cents. For someone using 1,000KWhs a month, that’s a $34 per month increase, or 27%. Under her plan, that will go far higher. 

Blame Trump 

Instead of acknowledging this, the report blames President Trump, who has been working to unleash energy across the country, for slashing the trillions in subsidies for solar, wind, and battery storage from the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” from the Biden Administration. They also blame Secretary Burgum for protecting federal lands from being carpeted with unreliable solar and wind farms. But electricity rates were increasing before Trump took office and Burgum was named Secretary of the Interior, precisely because of what they halted. We have more paper capacity than ever before, but costs are skyrocketing and reliability is declining because most of the new generation is coming from intermittent solar and wind.   

It should surprise no one, that even with taxpayer subsidies, the more solar, wind, and battery storage a utility puts on their grid, the higher costs are for ratepayers.  

Replace Coal with Solar and Battery Storage 

Instead of keeping our remaining coal plants online, as President Trump has called for, the report argues we should instead “repower” them with solar plus battery storage. Not only is it foolish on its face to replace a reliable source of energy with an intermittent source, it costs a lot more too. TEP even admitted so. In deciding to convert one of their existing coal plants to natural gas at a cost of $170 million, they argued that converting it to solar and battery storage would cost 27 times that, or $4.5 Billion. 

Competition? Only if Monopoly Utilities Benefit 

The only “solution” identified in the report that could actually help bring more capacity on the grid and shield ratepayers from increased costs from the massive energy demands of new large load customers, like data centers, is a “BYOC” or Bring Your Own Capacity approach where these customers self-generate their own power. But even here, the report doesn’t call for opening up the state for data centers to easily build their own power plants. No, for Hobbs it must be done in a way that benefits monopoly utilities. And, it must come with “sustainability” mandates on those data centers, which would cause prices to soar even higher. We ran a bill to streamline the process for data centers to bring their own power, likely to be natural gas, but the very utilities Hobbs is deferential to killed that bill at every step of the process. 

The Hobbs Energy Promise? Higher Costs, Subsidized by Taxpayers 

This is really just a political report, and if its recommendations were implemented, it would actually only increase the cost of electricity for Arizonans. We have seen the result of spamming the grid with renewables. 20 years after Kris Mayes spearheaded the effort to mandate 15% renewable energy, Arizonans have paid more than $3 billion for it. The Corporation Commission itself found that a renewable mandate would cost ratepayers $6 Billion. Our analysis of APS’ resource plan to go 100% renewable by 2050 found that it would cost ratepayers at least $42.7 billion through 2038, raising residential ratepayers’ bills by $100 a month.  

So, what is Hobbs’ actual plan to lower the cost of electricity for Arizonans? Her budget proposal this year included a tax hike to pay for a fund that would subsidize the utility bills of a few ratepayers across the state. In other words, she has done nothing in her 4 years as Governor to actually lower the costs of electricity and seemingly has no problem with our utilities getting their double-digit rate hikes. Instead, she wants to use taxpayer dollars to subsidize those rate hikes. Under her plan, utilities get their rate hikes, and ratepayers pay doubly for it – in higher rates and taxes.  

The Real Energy Promise that Delivers Affordability and Reliability to Customers 

The path for lower utility bills is not complicated. Stop shutting down coal. Meet new demand with more natural gas. Allow data centers to build their own power, on their own dime. Pave the way for more nuclear power within the next decade. Stop wasting money on unreliable solar, wind, and battery storage. If Hobbs was interested in delivering affordability and reliability to Arizona ratepayers, this is what a real Energy Promise would actually look like.  

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Cities Penalize Retailers for their Own Stolen Property

by admin | Mar 10, 2026 | Arizona, Dont CA my AZ, News and Updates

While some legislators are working to keep California-style policies out of Arizona, corrupt municipal leaders in cities such as Phoenix and Tucson clearly haven’t gotten the memo. For years, these cities have subjected businesses to an unfair fee for their own shopping carts being stolen. Rather than targeting theft, homelessness, or law enforcement strategies, this policy shifts blame onto retailers, effectively punishing the victims. A classic California-esque idea infecting our Arizona cities. 

Representative Nick Kupper introduced HB2460 this legislative session to combat this insanity and introduce some common sense. This bill prevents local governments from fining retailers over abandoned movable property, such as shopping carts and handheld baskets. Retailers already lose money from cart theft; charging them to reclaim their own stolen property is ridiculous. 

This type of policy is the definition of “California-ing Arizona.” California has regulated abandoned shopping carts for decades, with state law dating back to 1992 authorizing cities to penalize retailers when carts are not retrieved from public spaces. Tucson and Phoenix are now following in those footsteps. Arizona law ARS 44-1799.33 already establishes procedures for dealing with abandoned shopping carts, including notice to the owner, impoundment, cost recovery, and eventual disposal if the cart is not retrieved, without automatically penalizing retailers. 

Arizona should be a state that prioritizes accountability and property rights, but these cities seem intent on breaking that mold.  

Tucson started back in 2013 when the city council approved an ordinance requiring retailers to retrieve abandoned shopping carts that end up off of their property. If they fail to pick up a cart within three days after notification, the city impounds it and charges the retailer a $30 retrieval fee. After 30 days, the fee is automatically added to the company’s water bill, and the cart is either sold or discarded. Retailers bear the burden after their property has already been stolen. 

Phoenix has an even longer history of penalizing retailers through its Abandoned Shopping Cart Retrieval Program, first authorized as a pilot in 2005 and officially established in 2007. The program charges retailers a fee when city crews collect carts found off-site. Over the years, the fees have increased from $20 in 2007 to $50 by 2017, supposedly to “incentivize better management” of their property. Just this year, the city expanded its approach with a new ordinance requiring annual retailer certification, management plans, and higher penalties for non-compliance.  

While Phoenix and Tucson have some of the longest histories with this bad policy, other Arizona cities including Avondale (2020), Glendale (2023), Maricopa (2022), and Peoria (2008) have adopted similar shopping cart ordinances. Whether through retrieval fees, regulatory requirements, or mandated anti-theft measures, the trend reflects a growing statewide shift toward placing increased responsibility on retailers for cart loss and abandonment. 

Cities defend these policies by arguing that abandoned shopping carts impose public costs: blocked sidewalks, poor aesthetics, and cleanup time. Framing the policy as cost recovery rather than punishment, they claim retailers are best positioned to prevent loss through management systems or retrieval services.  

During the committee hearing on HB2460, a representative of the City of Phoenix even argued that enforcing the law against thieves would be problematic because retailers would be prosecuting their customers. Last I checked, people who steal carts are not law-abiding citizens merely buying groceries, they’re criminals. In that same discussion, a Democrat lawmaker claimed that preventing cities from imposing these fines would be government overreach. It truly feels like we are living in an upside-down world. 

But there is no good rationale for these ordinances. If theft is the problem, why not prioritize enforcement and deterrence? Shifting the burden onto retailers normalizes the crime and encourages continued bad behavior. Why would it ever stop if the guilty never face repercussions? 

These unjust ordinances are the gateway to further punishment of the innocent while the guilty walk free. It starts with shopping carts, then Arizona will go full-blown California and allow squatters to take over homes and punish the rightful property owners.  

HB2460 is necessary to protect retailers from being fined for retrieving their own stolen property. This shouldn’t even be a debate. In America, your property is yours, and those who steal it should face consequences, not the victims of the theft. That is justice. The bill passed the Arizona House in late February on a party-line vote and now heads to the Senate. We encourage the Senate and the governor to move quickly to pass and sign the measure to reaffirm basic property rights and ensure businesses are not punished for crimes committed by others and reject the creeping wave of California-style policies before they take deeper root in our state. 

Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network

Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!

Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.