Support Local Students.
Protect Local Educational Opportunity.
Vote YES on Proposition 425
Proposition 425 updates an outdated state funding formula so Gila Community College can support today’s students and programs without raising your tax rate or requesting additional funding.
Strengthen Education Without Raising Tax Rates
Prop 425 gives Gila Community College the ability to support today’s students and programs without raising your tax rate or requesting additional funding. It simply updates a state funding formula written more than 46 years ago that penalizes the college for spending existing revenues already allocated toward student support, academic and enrichment course offerings, and workforce training.
Updating the annual expenditure limit formula will enable GCC to strengthen post-secondary education across Gila County.
What Proposition 425 Does
Prop 425 is a local ballot measure that modernizes how the state calculates Gila Community College’s annual spending limit. It adjusts the 1980 base funding amount used for the college’s state-imposed expenditure cap, so the legal spending limit better reflects today’s state-approved budget.
Prop 425 will:
Reset the base spending limit amount that was set back in 1980.
Result in a permanent base limit expenditure adjustment of $5,051,588.
Adjust the formula used to calculate GCC’s legal spending limit to better align with its actual, state-approved budget.
Allow GCC to avoid financial penalties while keeping current programs in place and eventually growing to better serve our communities.
Not create a new tax, increase your tax rate, or require additional funding.
Why Proposition 425 is Needed
When Arizona’s expenditure limits were written in 1980, Gila County did not have the Gila Community College students and families rely on today. The current spending cap was set:
Long before the Payson Campus was built and the Gila Pueblo Campus was acquired.
Long before GCC became a fully independent, accredited community college district.
Long before today’s technology, infrastructure, workforce training, and dual-credit programs existed.
As the college has grown, the old formula has not kept up with the cumulative rate of inflation. Today, that outdated limit could force GCC to cut back on programs and services just to stay under an old cap, or risk state penalties for overspending even when funding is available and responsibly budgeted.
Prop 425 is a practical adjustment that helps keep the college strong, protects student opportunity, and respects taxpayers by not raising the tax rate.
Simply Stated…
Voting YES on Proposition 425 simply modernizes a 46-year-old formula through a base limit expense adjustment of $5,051,588 for Gila Community College.
Voting NO on Proposition 425 could result in severe cuts to educational programs and services offered by Gila Community College.
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