[[{“value”:”
What is the difference between Dee Margo and Renard Johnson, aside from the fact that they are cut from the same cloth and relied upon the same group of friends to get elected?
During his mayoral campaign, Margo promised to “hold the line on taxes.” Instead, he presided over a series of unprecedented tax increases, driven by his borrowing and spending agenda.
By contrast, during his mayoral campaign, Johnson promised to lower our property tax.
We will give Johnson the benefit of the doubt and assume he meant only the City portion of our property tax.
Even so, the City must issue approximately $472 million in debt over the next several fiscal years because of the 2019 and 2022 bond elections while facing major financial challenges due to the precarious economic environment.
Add to that the proposed deck plaza over I-10 and the galaxy of other spending initiatives he promised his donors and we will see strong upward pressure on our property tax.
This summer, the City will enter into budget talks, and Johnson will preside over a substantial tax increase, breaking his primary campaign promise, and then blame others for the outcome or claim he didn’t vote for it.
Maybe he will strategically be in Phoenix during the budget vote in August, much as Mayor Cook was out of town during the vote to blow up City Hall.
He could always go for a couple hundred million in COs to make up for the budget shortfall, but that would spark a citizen backlash for the record books.
We will be watching very closely.
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