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The Pinal County Board of Supervisors voted last week to approve calling an election to allow the voters of Pinal County to approve a 1/2 cent sales tax to fund transportation improvements across the county.
Voters will see this new ballot measure on the Nov. 8, 2022, ballot. If approved, all purchases in Pinal County will have an additional half cent sales tax added to each purchase. The funds collected from the PRTA tax have been held in escrow by the Arizona Department of Revenue due to legal challenges posed by the Goldwater Institute.
This past spring, elected officials from throughout Pinal County were dismayed and disappointed that the Arizona Supreme Court ruled against the Pinal Regional Transportation Authority (PRTA). While the Supreme Court, agreed that the PRTA transportation plan was valid and that the voters approved the plan, the taxing method was not legal. When voters approved the 1/2 cent sales tax in November of 2017, there was a two-tier taxing method, any purchase over $10,000 would not require payment of the tax. The Supreme Court ruled that the PRTA and the county could not develop a tiered tax system without approval from the State Legislature.
The original tax approved by voters in 2017 planned for the communities of Superior, Mammoth, Kearny and Eloy to each receive upwards of $300,000 a year to fund road maintenance projects in their communities. The Pinal Regional Transportation Authority (PRTA), formed to manage the funds collected, was the local authority tasked with ensuring the projects move forward. The board was composed of Mayors or elected officials from Pinal County and the local municipalities.
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