Sedona's Taxing Situation

By Staff Writer | Sedona.biz
 
Sedona, AZ:  Some Sedona business owners were upset when they learned that on January 1, 2007 the jail tax component of the sales tax had increased by .20% to .50%.  Many Sedona business owners, however, didn't think twice about it.

This is because the jail tax increase only applies to Sedona businesses that are in Coconino County.  As Sedona residents know, West Sedona and the unincorporated Village of Oak Creek are in Yavapai County while the portion of SR 179 in Sedona up to the "Y" and Uptown Sedona are in Coconino County.

In September 2006 Coconino County voters approved the Coconino County Sheriff's Office ballot initiative to increase the County's Jail District Sales Tax from .30% to .50%.  The increase is expected to generate approximately $4.4 million in additional revenue, and the approval extends to June 30, 2027.

As background, in 1996 Coconino County voters approved a .30% Jail District Sales Tax, and that tax money was used to repay loans used to build the County jail and to fund the operations of the jail. Estimated future jail costs are $13.3 million per year. The County general fund also provides approximately $2.2 million each year in addition to the jail tax to support the operations of the jail, as required by State law.

According to the Coconino County website, the Coconino County Sheriff's Office patrols 18,000 square miles in Coconino County and, in 2005, responded to 39,000 calls for service and prepared over 3,000 departmental reports.  The Sheriff's Office said they needed to increase the jail tax to provide additional revenues for acquiring, constructing, operating, maintaining, and financing County-wide jail operations.  One of the major initiatives is to develop a new in-custody drug and alcohol treatment program.

The business owners in Uptown Sedona are likely asking themselves what Yavapai County's jail tax is, and whether Yavapai County's crime rate is more or less than Coconino County.

Coconino County's sales tax is 9.725% as of January 1, 2007. This is comprised of a 5.6% state tax, a 3% Sedona tax, a .50% general funds tax, the .50% jail tax, and a .125% capital tax.

Yavapai County's sales tax is only 9.35%.  The difference is that Yavapai County does not assess a capital tax and its jail tax is .25%, one-half the new Coconino County jail tax.

Does Yavapai County have that much less of a crime rate than Coconino County?  Here's what we discovered:

Based on crime statistics obtained from disastercenter.com, in 2004 Yavapai County had almost twice as many crimes as Coconino County but, due likely to their more rural nature, both counties had crime rates far less than Arizona in general.

According to disastercenter.com, the crime stats were as follows (the data beow is based on the number of crimes per 100,000 people):

If we look solely as crime rates, the jail tax increase isn't supported by the available data.

Is that the end of the story?  Not quite.  What about arrests versus crimes?  Maybe a lot of people in Coconino County are using valuable Sheriff's Office resources being arrested but are never convicted of a crime.

We had to go to a different source for this information, and we could only find statistics from 2000, so the comparison is not perfect, but we think it sheds light on something interesting.  According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, drug and alcohol juvenile and adult related arrests in 2000 were as follows:

Notice anything?  Coconino County had more alcohol and drug related arrests in 2000 as compared to Yavapai County and, unlike the crime statistics, drug and alcohol related arrests in Northern Arizona exceed Arizona as a whole. 

It's worth noting that Coconino County contains the Havasupai Nation, and parts of the Navajo Nation, Hualapai Nation, and Hopi Nation.  No wonder then that one of the Sheriff's Office's major initiatives is a new in-custody drug and alcohol treatment program. 

But is the fact that Coconino County had more arrests than Yavapai County enough to warrant a Coconino County jail tax that is twice that of Yavapai County?  We'll let you draw your own conclusion.

One final note:  The Sheriff's Office works for the County and a police department works for the City, like the Sedona Police Department.  Not all towns have their own police department.  The more police departments, the less resource strain is placed on the Sheriff's Office.  According to usacops.com, Coconino County has 5 police departments and Yavapai County has 7.

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