By L. Parsons In a special meeting of the Winslow City Council held last Monday, the council gave their unanimous approval to a property tax levy. The meeting, held as a video conference, was in response to the absence of a quorum for the last two regular council meetings. Tax changes must have at least six voting members of the council present. All members were present at the time of this vote. The Council is required by Arizona Revised Statutes and the Winslow City Charter to adopt by ordinance an annual tax levy based upon the rate to be assessed per each $100 of valuation of property within the corporate limits of the City of Winslow. The levy presented is for a rate of $1.3625 per $100 of full cash assessed valuation of all property located within the corporate limits of the City of Winslow, a tax rate sufficient to raise the amount of $431.198 as required for the budget. An example of the amount assessed would be property with a cash value of $100,000 that had an assessor’s full cash value of $10,000, which would result in a tax of $136.25 annually. The public has been notified in accordance in compliance with state statutes and a public hearing was held on June 22. The ordinance approving the tax levy was also declared an emergency. City Attorney Trish Stuhan explained, “Typically an emergency is declared so that it goes into immediate effect instead of the usual 30 days. That also provides time for a referendum, there are different arguments that we have made taxes aren’t really subject to referendum. We aren’t adopting new policy, we are implementing a tax that has already been approved.”
