My response below will be on the ballot this November 6th opposing Mesa’s Question 1, “home rule”.

(Maximum of 300 words limit a detailed explanation)

In 2016 “Question 1” on your ballot asked if you wanted to increase your sales tax by 23% to pay for an ASU campus to be built in downtown Mesa.  Overwhelming you said, “no”. However, this year the City Council decided to blatantly ignore your vote. This political maneuver was pulled off by increasing your water bill rates and taking out debt to finance the $100 million ASU campus. Deceitfully, this form of debt and water bill increases do not require voter approval, as they knew you would reject it again. Now utility bills will increase for the next 20 years to pay this debt.

Ironically this year “Question 1”, this question, is “Home Rule”. Now you can show your disdain with your vote being ignored in 2016 and vote against this question. This means you can tell the City Council that they must abide by article IX of Arizona’s Constitution and have a balanced budget. Currently, they’ve decided to not balance the budget to fund this new ASU campus. In turn, these deficits deplete our reserve fund. We’re projected to run deficits for the next 5 years, which is as far out as the city projects. Deficits for the next 5-years add up to -$59.1 million cumulatively. If you were to eliminate the new ASU building downtown not only would it balance the budget, we would have in excess of $40 million to be able to lower water and utility bills.

It’s time to not only vote no on “Home Rule” but replace the existing City Council. If our elected officials won’t listen then it’s time to look for replacements.

More facts and figures supporting this article can be found at JeremyWhittaker.com or email anytime.