Yes on 100

Proposition 100 Protects Arizona's Basic Needs

Remember the teacher you had in elementary school, the one whose memory has stayed with you all this time? She seemed to care a little more than the rest. Those few minutes a day, the personal attention she gave every student, made the difference between really understanding algebra or barely pulling a C.

Remember the time you dialed 9-1-1 and the police seemed to arrive on scene right when you hung up the phone?

Remember the co-worker who had to be let go because of the economy? Last you heard, he still hadn’t found work – and his family was relying on AHCCCS to take the kids to the doctor.

Yes, these are stories – but they’re the stories Arizonans live every day. And each of these stories is a reason to support Proposition 100, a temporary increase in Arizona’s sales tax meant to protect education, public safety and health care.

THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE

Today, Arizona’s state revenues have fallen to 2004 levels. In just those few years, the state has added:

• 145,000 additional K-12 students

• 11,600 additional prisoners

• 475,000 new AHCCCS enrollees

Think about that for a moment. New students to fill 5,000 classrooms. New criminals to fill 32 prison units. A new Medicaid population roughly the size of the City of Mesa.

Those numbers represent 2010 problems and 2010 responsibilities. They explain why Arizona needs Proposition 100. So does the looming $4 billion state budget deficit and the more than $2 billion in state services that will have been eliminated by the end of the 2011 fiscal year.  

Absolutely, Arizona must do much more with much less. Gov. Jan Brewer believes it. Arizona’s Democrat and Republican leadership believes it. So do Arizonans from the worlds of small business and education, public safety and health care.

But there comes a limit. And right up against that limit is where Arizona finds itself today.

Vote YES ON 100 this May 18th. Protect education, public safety and health care. Arizona needs your support.