Litchfield Park voters approving charter city question in early results

Litchfield Park voters appeared to be easily approving a measure to make the city Arizona's first charter city in more than four decades.

The question appeared on the ballot as Proposition 480. With early mail-in ballots counted, it was leading by a wide margin.

Local election results in Arizona are unofficial until local officials have tabulated and canvassed the results. It's unknown how many ballots remain to be counted.

"I’m obviously very happy that it appears to be winning the approval of our residents overwhelmingly,” said Litchfield Park Mayor Tom Schoaf.

Schoaf credits the Board of Freeholders, all of whom are Litchfield Park residents, with drafting a charter that the other residents would support.

“I’m not going to tell you that I’m surprised, because from the residents that I knew, I thought people supported the concept of having a charter and I thought the freeholders did a great job of putting together a charter that the residents would overwhelmingly support,” Schoaf said.

Schoaf said there isn’t one particular aspect of the charter that’s important to him. It’s more about the concept of the charter and giving residents the ability to create laws and regulations that support Litchfield Park, he said.

The campaign was a low-key one, with the point of the charter mainly coming down to local control.

In January, supporters cited how city staff is hired and fired, establishing a process for adopting and revising city ordinances and deciding how the mayor and City Council are elected and appointed as reasons to support the charter.

There was no organized opposition.

Tuesday's unofficial result comes after residents overwhelmingly supported the city holding a charter election and elected 14 freeholders to draft it.

This week's election decided if Litchfield Park would remain a general law city, dictated by state law, or would become a charter city with more local control.

In January, the city held a public input meeting where residents could voice their opinions about the draft charter. Minimum ages for City Council and term limits proved to be important topics for residents. Some also expressed concerns over the City Council's ability to implement taxes.

Under the charter, the minimum age for a City Council member would be raised from 18 to 21.

There would also be term limits. While the mayor and council members could run for an unlimited number of terms under state law, the charter would impose a limit of four terms that last four years. However, Mayor Tom Schoaf and any City Council members who have surpassed four terms would be able to run for one additional term after the charter is enacted.

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However, someone in theory could serve four terms as a council member followed by four years as mayor, although they would have to resign from the council as soon as they submit their nomination papers unless they are already in the last year of their term.

Elections also would be staggered, with three council members being elected every even-numbered year.

City Manager Matthew Williams previously told The Arizona Republic that this would help to ensure national elections don't overshadow the city's local elections.

As far as taxes go, the City Council would have the power to impose taxes for any purpose. While the council would be able to impose a transaction privilege tax, or a sales tax, any property tax would have to go to voters before it could be implemented.

Litchfield Park has never had a property tax.

While early results show the charter passing, it would still have to go through the governor's office for approval before Litchfield Park officially becomes a charter city.

The process of becoming a charter city isn't an easy one. Arizona currently has only 19 charter cities in comparison to 72 general law cities. Many cities in the Valley are charter cities, including Goodyear, Phoenix and Scottsdale.

And the charter doesn't necessarily have to be final, since it can be changed in the future through a city-wide election.

In 2023, legislation was introduced in Arizona to eliminate charter cities. While the bill ultimately failed, other ones may come up in the future, which the freeholders cited as a reason to go through the process now.

The Arizona Republic will update this article as more results are released.

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or by phone at 480-259-8545. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @AlexandraHardle.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Litchfield Park voters approving charter city question in early results