If you view the budget compromise as rescuing public safety from the clutches of a disaster, think again.

First, it is unknown if the proposed ballot proposition to increase sales taxes will pass.  If it doesn't, we will be set up for massive future reductions.

Second, even though the compromise reduced the impact to to the cities and towns by reducing the the Vehicle License Tax (VLT) sweep by 50% we simply don't know if the cities and towns can realize enough efficiencies to prevent further layoffs, furloughs and benefits.  

On June 4, 2009, the Arizona Legislature passed ten bills (Senate Bills 1027, 1028, 1029, 1031, 1035, 1036, 1145, 1187, 1188 and 1258), also known as “the Budget Bills,” which collectively comprised the state budget for FY 2009-10.

On June 26 at 8 PM, the legislature introduced eleven "trailer" amendments to those bills (HB2653, HB2648, HB2647, HB2645, HB2644, HB2643, HB2652, HB2651, HB2650, HB2646, HB2649) and one ballot proposition intended to allow voters to decide whether or not to amend the Arizona Constitution to enact a temporary one percent tax under the transaction privilege, use and severance tax. (HCR2037).

In order to decipher the current budget proposal, you must cut and paste the additions and exclusions into the original budget bills - line by line.

Therefore, at this time, I can only provide a general overview of the current provisions important to Fraternal Order of Police members (reserving the right to apologize for any errors I might make in this quick evaluation).

Hopefully, I will be able to provide a more complete verbal report at the Annual State FOP Conference on Monday or Tuesday of this coming week.

• The PSPRS and CORP employee contribution rate increase of 1.9% has been eliminated.  The FOP strongly opposed the measure, sending more than 10,000 individual email messages through our web site in just a few hours. We also, collected another 10,000 messages for use if the provision were to be resurrected at the last minute.
• PSPRS participants will not be allowed to include "third party" payments, except for those payments made for "primary law enforcement services" (contracts and grants) into retirement benefit calculations (off duty employment).
• Dispatchers hired after October, 2009 will not be allowed to enter the CORP retirement system.
• It looks like Corrections will experience a $60 million dollar budget cut of 6.8%.
• The proposal to require a "request for proposal" process intended to privatize prisons (excluding Yuma). Frankly, the requirement is that this privatization proposal provide a savings of $100 million. It is not clear exactly what this provision will accomplish because of the unknown nature of what private prisons would be willing to bid.
• The AG's Office will experience a disproportionately large budget cut, probably due to partisan issues.
• The VLT sweep, which is especially harmful to cities, towns and counties, has been reduced from 45 million to 22 million.
• The Development Impact fees issue, which would have harmed cities and towns, has been changed to a less damaging position.