Supervisor Snider discusses importance of transportation tax with Maricopa business owners

52

District 3 Supervisor David Snider looked pleased after Thursday morning’s meeting with the Maricopa Chamber of Commerce. Snider, along with former Supervisor Jimmie Kerr and Deputy County Manager Terry Doolittle, met with the Chamber to talk about the half-cent transportation excise tax which sunsets at the end of 2006. The County is bringing a reauthorization issue for the sales tax to the voters this November.

“I felt the meeting went very well,” Supervisor Snider said following the meeting. “We had a resounding show of support from the Chamber for the reauthorization of the sales tax.”

If the voters re-approve the issue in November, this will be a continuance of a half-cent sales tax that goes to strictly to transportation issues in Pinal County. Voters first approved the excise tax in 1986, since that time the half-cent tax has raised over $83 million which has been shared between incorporated cities and Pinal County.

“I have to stress that this tax is the primary funding vehicle we have to pave and maintain roads,” Snider said. “It is Pinal County residents, in the form of a transportation advisory committee, who decide where the money goes. I don’t know how we would get much of our road work done without the money raised from this.”

The District 3 Supervisor pointed out that over 120 miles of road work from new construction to pavement preservation has been done thanks to the excise tax.

“If the voters re-approve this issue in November,” Snider said, “we will continue to build a safe and efficient transportation system for Pinal County motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians.”