Arizona State Law 41-563 – Expenditure limitations; determination by the commission; definitions

Uniform Expenditure Reporting System (UERS) | Auditor General

Arizona Auditor General
The Arizona Auditor General serves as an independent source of impartial information concerning State and local governmental entities and provides specific recommendations to improve the operations of those entities. 
Home | Auditor General

Arizona Auditor General is an incredible source of information. The public can review reports and statistics there. I’m a big fan.
In fiscal year 2023, they issued:
185 Reports*
661 Recommendations
$1,744,074 Fraud uncovered
37 Felony charges.
* reports include audits, reviews, investigations, alerts, and followups.
To read more about their fiscal year 2023 efforts, click here to read annual report.

The League of Arizona Cities and Towns is a voluntary membership organization that provides services to incorporated municipalities in Arizona. The League is a great resource of statistics of the incorporated municipalities in Arizona. League of Arizona Cities and Towns, AZ | Official Website

Mission Statement

The League of Arizona Cities and Towns, a voluntary membership organization of the incorporated municipalities in Arizona, exists to provide vital services and tools to all its members, focusing principally on representing the interests of cities and towns before the legislature, and secondarily on providing technical and legal assistance, coordinating shared services and producing high quality conference and educational events.

Donna’s FACT FINDS

Reliable sources ~ Data Driven ~ Research ~ Benchmarks ~ Trackable

According to the Arizona League of Cities and Towns 1/20/2024 report
45% Home Rule (41)
44% Permanent Base (40)
10% none (9)
1% both Home Rule and Permanent Base (1)

Nearby cities or town use Permanent Base Adjustment
Cottonwood
Camp Verde
Clarkdale

100% of Arizona property have county property taxes. All areas PAY county property taxes.
36.26 % Cities or Towns in Arizona have NO CITY property tax. City property taxes are voter approved and have additional city services such as fire departments.
Those outside the city limits do NOT have city-imposed fees, or taxes unless they purchase something within the city limits.

SOURCE: Arizona City & Town Data | League of Arizona Cities and Towns, AZ

The post Arizona Uniform Expenditure first appeared on Donna Joy.

Did you know that the AZ Auditor General has reported that:
SEDONA-OAK CREEK JOINT UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT—NOT IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE UNIFORM SYSTEM OF FINANCIAL RECORDS FOR ARIZONA SCHOOL DISTRICTS (USFR)

May 13, 2024

Report is a 6-page report with many deficiencies listed

• Letter
• List of deficiencies

SEDONA-OAK CREEK UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

The post Sedona-Oak Creek School District 2024 NOT IN COMPLIANCE Report first appeared on Donna Joy.

Scott Jablow – https://www.re-electscottmayor.com/
John Martinez – https://martinezformayor.com/

Candidates for Councilor (3 seats open)

Kathy Kinsella – http://www.vote4sedona.com
Derek Pfaff – http://votepfaff.com
Holli Ploog – http://www.vote4sedona.com
Katherine Todd https://katherinetodd4sedona.com/
Mike Ward – https://www.mikeforsedona.org

By sharing information, and knowledge, and engaging in local issues we are better equipped to build a healthy balanced community.

Using your voice and VOTING builds our community.

~ Share ~
Understand the Candidate’s performance, and what they bring to the table, and vote for the candidate that you believe will do the best job 

~Sedona Community Involvement~
Collaboration~Sharing Knowledge~Building Community

Sedona Community Involvement on Facebook

Sedona groups on Facebook have a mix of tourists and residents outside the Sedona Area communities. There are many posts in these groups and people block others prohibiting specific people from seeing. Heated conversations on candidates blocking them from seeing and blocking Admin led me to form Sedona Politics in Motion group https://www.facebook.com/groups/sedonapolitics

Sedona Politics in Motion group is a private group that people can join and is targeted on local issues. Local political discussions need to be in an area where we all can participate, engage, understand more, learn, grow, nurture, and seed our communities. This includes State, County, Municipalities, and unincorporated areas. https://www.facebook.com/groups/sedonapolitics

Sedona Community Involvement Facebook Page Is a page anyone can see on Facebook. Posts there can be shared and commented on. Sedona Community Involvement shares a variety of community items. https://www.facebook.com/SedonaCommunityInvolvement

Register/Update Online

If you have an Arizona Driver’s License and/or an Arizona non-operating identification card issued by the Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) you may register to vote through ServiceArizona EZ Voter Registration.

Dates

The post SEDONA CITY ELECTION CANDIDATES 2024 first appeared on Donna Joy.

CITY LAUNCHES TOURISM PROGRAM

CITY LAUNCHES TOURISM PROGRAM

“Sedona’s Business Community Sign-up. Are you business inside Sedona’s city limits? Help us build out our business listings by sharing all that you have to offer visitors. We will use this in referrals and in our upcoming Visitors Guide. Please fill out the Tourism Business Application form 
https://www.sedonaaz.gov/…/sho…/49466/638233811665070000 and return it to Karen Kwitkin, City Manager’s Office Executive Assistant, at kkwitkin@sedonaaz.gov.”

Press Release Link: https://www.sedonaaz.gov/Home/Components/News/News/5931/

Tourism Program Link: https://www.sedonaaz.gov/your-government/departments-and-programs/city-manager/tourism-program/-fbclid-IwAR2SRE6DYhxVb6mj2oOUCQ19LwHfC6Xw1AgTrD9xEtCmefScBv5r5UvMPfo

Please find the link to the business sign-up form below:
https://www.sedonaaz.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/49466/638233811665070000
Return it to kkwitkin@sedonaaz.gov

Sign up for the Visitor Guide here:
https://www.sedonaaz.gov/your-government/departments-and-programs/city-manager/tourism-program/tourism-newsletter

The post City Launches Tourism Program first appeared on Donna Joy.

Good Morning Sedona,
2023 continues on a positive path and just wanted to share some updates. Please feel free to share this email, and feel free to send me items you like to share to be shared.  

~Mark your Calendar~

The Sedona City Council meeting is on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, at 3:00 pm. 

City Council Meeting

• Date: 05/10/2023 3:00 p.m.
• Location: City Council Chambers
  102 Roadrunner Drive
  Sedona, Arizona 86336

Agenda/Packets/Minutes

SPECIAL BUSINESS 
 a. AB 2949 Discussion/possible direction/action regarding the development of a municipal destination marketing and management program, including consideration of an Ordinance to establish an 11-member Tourism Advisory Board.

This is a meeting one that both businesses & residents should join in on. During a benchmark study on Tourism, the Arizona Office of Tourism along with many cities and towns of every size use this model, Tourism Advisory Board.
Below is the link to the benchmark. 
https://donnajoys.com/tourism-government-models-dmo-benchmark/

if you can’t attend please learn more through the Agenda Packet, live video or recorded videos on the City website. Video links post-meeting link below  
https://www.sedonaaz.gov/your-government/departments/city-clerk/council-commissions-committees-boards/city-council/meetings-live-webcast-video-audio

I always learn much more by watching and attending City Council meetings. 

~Sedona Please Read~

Eddie Maddock: The Tale That Wagged the Dog

I love Eddie and all that she brings to the table. I especially like her article. Here is a statement from Eddie’s article. 

“Sedona has newcomers on the City Council. They are smart. They are asking a lot of questions. They are astute. But perhaps best of all, they recognize Sedona residents and respect City Limits as their jurisdiction. They have also expressed interest and intent to cooperate with regards to the spirit of regional communication and indicate willingness to seek and share ideas with other Verde Valley communities, but at the same time always to respect the limitations of their jurisdiction.”

~If you missed ~

WHAT CITY “DMO” STATUS MEANS FOR BUSINESS AND RESIDENTS by Brian Fultz, Kathy Kinsella, Holli Ploog, the City Council Tourism Work Group
It is excellent, I’ve posted it here for viewing https://donnajoys.com/what-city-dmo-status-means-for-business-and-residents/

City Doing The Right Thing With Destination Marketing
Was published on Sedona.biz A step-by-step on the City and Chamber write-up by me. If you have a question feel free to send me an email. The article is here on DonnaJoys City Doing The Right Thing With Destination Marketing

Sedona Community Involvement Facebook page

Facebook has many Sedona Groups we share this kind of information in those groups.
We also have a Sedona Community Involvement page 
https://www.facebook.com/SedonaCommunityInvolvement
Items submitted and or shared on pages or groups are shared there. 

Want email updates? email Donna@DonnaJoys.com or sign up here [mc4wp_form id=4082]

~Email for City Council & the City Manager~

sjablow@sedonaaz.gov
hploog@sedonaaz.gov
mdunn@sedonaz.gov
bfultz@sedonaaz.gov
pfurman@sedonaaz.gov
kkinsella@sedonaaz.gov
jwilliamson@sedonaaz.gov
KOsburn@sedonaaz.gov

Only when we work together do we build a fair and balanced Sedona Community

Good Public Policy brings solutions and community together

Seed our Sedona community with knowledge, engagement and working together.

Donna Joy
Live, Love, Learn
DonnaJoys.com

The post Sedona Community ~ Good to know ~ first appeared on Donna Joy.

The post What City “DMO” Status Means For Business and Residents first appeared on Donna Joy.

City of Sedona Notice on yard waste Curbside Yard Waste

Your Pickup Day
Find your area in the map here. 
Note: Place material by 4 pm the day before the date of service.
Find your day on this City of Sedona page

The post Curbside Yard Waste Notice first appeared on Donna Joy.

I was asked to do a workshop on how the Sedona Community could address local issues. I did so unpaid. For me, it is all about community.
Workshops that involve attendees were the workshop model I used.
Those in attendance had several ways to engage. Below is the PowerPoint and the data-driven community issues this group was concerned with. There were approximately 50 in attendance. Community & Housing are the top issues.

PowerPoint

Collaboration is the way

Collaboration
Being present & Involved

Highlights Community Interests
Total Community Involvement ~TCI~

This data was collected in two spots. The results are

1. Community & Housing tied
2. Food
3. Vacation Rentals

After the workshop, Donna expanded to learn more by posting a poll on her website and Facebook in order to get a wider perspective of the Sedona Community.
PowerPoint used at the Workshop here.
Residents Footprint Sedona Residents Footprint Network
Poll DonnaJoys.com
Sedona Community Involvement Website
Sedona Community Involvement page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SedonaCommunityInvolvement
Donna Joy is a retired entrepreneur, a long-time Sedona Resident, and an unpaid community volunteer Donna Joy’s website

PROCESS- The Total Community Involvement process enables everyone to express themselves. Moving Forward Sedona was a tool to involve locals at the local level. For this involvement in Moving Forward Sedona, three locations were used, in three different 3 different methods to gather Data-Driven Highlights of Sedona Community Interests.

Locations – Workshop, website DonnaJoys.com, Facebook Group.

Moving Forward Sedona Workshop used:
1. A sign-in sheet where attendees signed in and made a comment at sign-in,
2. Open introduction: Name, and how long they lived in Sedona
3. Sticky Tags were filled out by the participants, who listed their top 1-3 concerns for Sedona

The Website & Facebook Group used a poll method.

Data-Driven Highlights Community Interests Concerns– Combined results top concerns & interests

1. Housing
2. Vacation Rentals
3. Community
4. Land
5. Food
6. Cost of Living
7. Healthcare

The post Workshop first appeared on Donna Joy.

Workshop link learn more……………

The post Sedona Workshop first appeared on Donna Joy.

When it comes to money, money changes definitions, and opinions through propaganda machines. If you hear the same story over and over, especially from those that you like and respect we all have a tendency to believe it. Repetition is an advertisement technique. Social media marketing is one of the best marketing strategies for communities.

I don’t like confusion. I’m unable to think when confusion surrounds me. No one can work under confusion. Confusion is not logical, so it spurs my curiosity.
My curiosity drives me to learn more by taking a logical approach. 

One of those items we all heard about in Sedona pertains to the Sedona Chamber and the Sedona city bed taxes. In January I attended the Sedona City Council & Sedona Chamber meeting. It was long, grueling, and made my head spin. I started researching this exact thing in 2013, and to hear ten years later that we still have the same misinformation flowing through Sedona is discouraging. There were many false statements made from the Chamber side of the table. Listening to this was painful as the public could only listen, having 3 minutes to speak at the end of the meeting.

This misinformation has led some to criticize the City of Sedona for not funding the regional Sedona Chamber of Commerce. Over the last month, the Chamber went back to City Council requesting more marketing dollars. The request was denied by a 4 to 3 vote. The vote sparked more negative city campaign media. Finger-pointing, playing the blame game, and using the repetitive marketing used by special interests in Social Media, local blogs and media feeds the beast of misinformation. This is wrong.
Special interests with conflicts of interest can’t and don’t give you all the facts.

Extensive research is grueling, and data crunching, tracking, indexing, and gathering government policy documentation is overwhelming. Sorting it and putting it in a format that we can all understand is a work in progress.

I’m unpaid, a volunteer, and have done this for one reason Confusion stifles us…………it kills our ability to move forward.
Below is an infographic that walks us through the process and policy for Arizona in a short form. All this information is data-driven with sources documented.

See research sources & data analysis below

Tourism Taxes & Policy Infographic

If you can speak up get the word out there. Contact, meet, call, blog, post on social media, comment on websites, and write.

The Chamber, its members, vendors, and supporters are using the propaganda machine and repetitive marketing to obtain more funding, and control, requesting the city to continue to fund the Chamber membership which isn’t the standard policy for Convention Visitor Bureaus.

Please encourage and support our City, City Council & City Manager to move our city forward to a standard tourism program. The email address and sources are below.

Feel free to use anything on this site.
Have a question? Donna Joy 928-282-4635   Email donna@donnajoys.com

Write City Hall –

sjablow@sedonaaz.gov
hploog@sedonaaz.gov
mdunn@sedonaz.gov
bfultz@sedonaaz.gov
pfurman@sedonaaz.gov
kkinsella@sedonaaz.gov
jwilliamson@sedonaaz.gov
KOsburn@sedonaaz.gov

The post Sedona good to know first appeared on Donna Joy.