Prop 454 electrocuted the election campaign of the Majority-4 There are two "three rails" in Oro Valley politics. These are concepts that, if touched, will electrocute you.
One is a property tax.
No sitting council has ever survived the next election when proposing a property tax. Mayor Paul Loomis was Mayor from 2002 to 2010. He had proposed a property tax to pay for a "theme park of wishes" in Naranja Park. The referendum on that tax was rejected by a resounding majority of voters.
Loomis did not make it past the primary when he ran for a third term in 2012.
In this election, Hiremath didn't make it past the primary either.
A huge political blunder
Proposing a property tax was a huge political blunder by the entire Oro Valley Town Council.
No property tax is the mantra of Oro Valley. The town was founded on that concept. Through the years, when proposed, a property tax has never received more than a 30% voter approval.
On what basis, one should reasonably ask, did the Oro Valley Town Council, which includes the Majority-4, conclude that it was a good idea to ask the voters to approve a property tax?
What made all seven members of the council think that residents so trusted their judgment to enable what will be a forever hand on the resident's wallets?
After all, the council was already wasting valuable dollars on a golf course and a community center that virtually nobody wanted. To do this, the council had diverted dollars from a "pay as you go" field building approach to Naranja Park to the golf course. In essence, as the voters most certainly saw it, Prop 454 was merely a way to help the Majority-4 make up for their huge golf course mistake.
Hubris
Apparently, the council simply did not do their homework; or, perhaps, and we think this is much more likely, the council was so convinced of their power, after the 2016 council election of Solomon, Rodman and Pina, that they could do whatever they wanted.
Voters woke up in 2017...Their enthusiasm carried into 2018
Voters awoke on 2017. They rejected Prop454.
And, then, as one would expect, they remembered just 10 months later, who put this proposition on the ballot and they rejected them too.
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