Local reaction to Prop 422 voting

SAN LUIS, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Voters of San Luis spoke loud and clear to a proposed property tax striking it down by an overwhelming margin. 

Nearly a week ago, around 90% of voters said no to Proposition 422, which would have installed a first-time-ever property tax in San Luis.

The reason for the tax is that money received from state revenue-sharing funds is very limited due to the city’s low population and low revenue is generated by city sales tax.

The property tax would've provided a financial boost to help address city projects.

“More infrastructure done in the city of San Luis investments in park and recreation more activities for our youth for our children to takes advantage of. Traffic jams are going to start going away with the opening of and construction of new roads and expansions,” said Luis Cabrera, a San Luis City Council Member.

Despite the needs, voters decided it wouldn't come from a property tax. 

“That the people themselves have reached out and looked at the information and that they evaluated that this was something they did not want at this time,” said James Allen Jr., a local San Luis resident who plans to run for city council.

However, although there were few, some people were in favor of the proposition.  

“I was in favor of it because it would of greatly benefitted the city, even though we would pay a little more it would have greatly helped parks for kids, lights, streets, we have to have love for the town,” said Maria Gonzalez, another resident in San Luis.

According to Allen, the sales tax could have also caused a lot of problems for those struggling with money.

“It would cause financial hardships it would also cause maybe some of them that weren’t able to pick up an additional cost because of fixed incomes,” said Allen.

For now, it's back to the drawing board to find other ways to generate revenue to cover city expenses and improvements.