Payson Town Council Incumbents?

Vote.  Them.  Out!

• Payson has a grocery tax of 3.48%.
• Payson’s sales tax is 10.48%, the seventh highest in the state.
• Incumbents plan large-scale projects with no voter input on debt.
• Incumbents use “emergency clauses” to preclude voter input.
• The incumbents plan a General Obligation bond in an off-year election for MORE debt.
  

They want your money but not your input.  Payson’s current spending plans are a debt bomb for citizens.

Your Money.  Your Land.  Your Vote.

The incumbents are:

• Mayor, Mr. Chris Higgins
• Council Member, Ms. Barbara Underwood
• Council Member, Ms. Jolynn Schinstock
• Council Member, Mr. Scott Nossek

Tax and spend, spend and tax. 

A brief list of reasons to Vote.  Them.  Out!

• The Town Council uses an “emergency clause” on issues to circumvent voter referendums.  A sample “emergency” is rising interest rates.  They want your money but not your input.
• The Town of Payson charges a 3.48% sales tax on groceries purchased for home consumption.
• In January 2024, an additional 1% (a 34% increase) was added to the sales tax in Payson by an “emergency” decree.  We are currently at 10.48%, the seventh highest in the state.
• Payson’s taxpayers were promised a sunset in 2026 of the .88% sales tax increase enacted in 2017 to pay down the PSPRS shortfall.  In December 2023, an “emergency clause” removed the sunset, and the sales tax was made permanent. The PSPRS funding shortfall today is more significant than it was in 2017!
• The incumbents chose to repeal proposition 401 and 402.  The Town is embroiled in a lawsuit brought by Transparent Payson.  In 2023, six town council members repealed, by emergency declaration, the citizens’ initiatives Propositions 401 and 402.  This Town has a lot of emergencies when needed.  The case has now been appealed to the Arizona Court of Appeals.  The Town of Payson is using YOUR tax dollars to fight YOUR initiatives that passed by 60% of the votes in 2018.
• The incumbents running for reelection fought tooth and nail against a splash pad for Payson’s children, approved years earlier.  Now, they take photo ops and victory laps for a project that costs twice as much as the original concept while receiving ½ of its original design.
• A potential sweetheart deal was made on land for “affordable housing” that will require the Town to spend millions to make the land buildable.
• In the 2020 campaign, Mayor Higgins promised repeatedly, “I am only a one-term mayor.”  Yet here he is, running for a second term.  A promise was made.  A promise was broken.  In 2023, Mayor Higgins was fined $20,000.00 by the Federal Communication Commission for illegally charging for advertising on a low-power “nonprofit” radio station.  Rules for thee…
• Payson’s population has remained relatively constant for years, but town employee headcount and payroll have not. Headcount increases year over year, and payroll increases beyond inflation.
• The Town has an alarming workforce shortage in our police department. Capital improvements and pet projects seem prioritized. The safety of citizens is the government’s primary obligation.
• The Town’s roads continue their spiral of disrepair.  In contrast, the Town contemplates a massive $40,000,000.00 plus aquatic center.  Given the median age, we suspect most of Payson’s citizens will not use it.
• The Town’s current budget is over 107 MILLION dollars.  Last year’s budget was seventy-seven million dollars.  Just a few years ago, it was forty-two million dollars.  Have you seen where the extra thirty million dollars over the past year has gone?  Neither have we.

Vote.  Them.  Out!