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Activist files two petitions(The Sun (Yuma, AZ)(KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jul. 21--A local civic activist is seeking signatures on a petition to abolish property taxes in Yuma and for a charter amendment that would reform how local sales tax money is spent. Yuma resident Jack Kretzer said there is no reason for the city to levy property taxes. Kretzer sat through the city's budget presentation Wednesday night and said nobody at the city could say why they needed the money. "The city's finance director says ‘collect as much as you can,' not ‘do you need the money,' " Kretzer said. "They went through the whole budget and never once showed why they need the property tax other than that's the one they can do without voter approval." The Yuma City Council on Wednesday voted unanimously to adopt the maximum allowable property tax levy and also renewed a tax on businesses located on Main Street for maintenance of the downtown mall. Kretzer said renewing the mall tax doesn't make sense. "Given the fact that it is no longer going to exist, why do we have to have a tax levy?" Kretzer asked. Kretzer said residents of Yuma are already overtaxed. The city has enough money in the bank and collects enough money from the sales tax and through state aid to run the city that it doesn't need to charge a property tax, he said. City of Yuma spokesman Troy Wilde said the city collects $7.3 million in property taxes and $90,000 for the mall maintenance. The city also gets an additional $3 million in revenue from the sales tax. The average property tax bill in Yuma is about $153 a year. "We're taxed to death," Kretzer said. "Nobody on the city council listens to anybody except the special interest groups. The special interest groups rule." If Kretzer can get 891 signatures from registered voters, it would force the city council to either rescind those two taxes or put it on a ballot for residents to vote on. The second petition, which needs 1,336 signatures, seeks to amend the city charter and requires the city to earmark the money collected from the sales tax for specific expenditures. The proposal would designate $1 million to pay for city golf courses, the baseball stadium and community center; $1.6 million to build and operate a water park; $200,000 to the Arizona Historical Society for a history museum; and $200,000 to promote tourism in Yuma. The city would also be limited to spending no more than $3 million of the sales tax. Anything over $3 million would have to be used to reduce the property tax levy. Yuma assesses a 2 percent sales tax in the city limits. "Right now, it has become a slush fund for the city to cheat," Kretzer said. Yuma City Administrator Mark Watson declined to comment on the specifics of the petitions until after they are turned in to the city clerk's office. However, Watson added that Kretzer is well known for wasting the city's time and money with his failed petitions. "This individual has taken out more petitions in the past decade than all of the petitions filed collectively with the city of Yuma during the past quarter century," Watson said. "All of his 60 petitions have failed but have succeeded in wasting a vast amount of employee hours and taxpayer resources." Kretzer said he likens this petition drive to a recent, though failed, effort to put a measure on the ballot that would have rolled back property taxes statewide. "A lot of the people helped with the Arizona tax revolt," Kretzer said. "I'm hoping people will look at the Yuma tax revolt the same way." Anyone interested in signing the petitions can call him at 376-6871. He will also be outside Food City at 16th Street and Avenue B from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today. |