Photo: Matthew Ansley on Unsplash. Stock photo, not a Yavapai County jail.
Prop 497: Should Yavapai County Double Its Jail Sales Tax?
Prop 497 asks for one more penny on every $4 of taxed shopping in Yavapai County. The money would go to the county's two jails. In return, the county's supervisors promise to cut property taxes, though that part isn't on the ballot.
This is what you pay now. The jail line is a quarter on every $100.
The quick facts
You'd pay a little more at the register and maybe get a little back on your tax bill. Spend $1,000 a month on taxed stuff and the new tax costs you about $30 a year. If the supervisors cut $4 million, a $250,000 home would save about $24 a year. That nets out to about $6 more a year. Try your own numbers.
You'd pay the new tax and probably not get much back. It's about $30 a year if you spend $1,000 a month on taxed stuff. You don't get a property tax bill, so there's no bill of yours to cut. If your landlord's taxes drop, some of that could reach your rent, but nobody has to pass it along. Try your own numbers.
Your customers pay the extra quarter cent at checkout, and you send it in with your sales tax. Business property is taxed on a bigger share of its value than homes are. So if the property tax cut happens, you'd get more back per dollar of value than a homeowner would. Try your own numbers.
You'd pay the extra quarter cent and get no property tax cut at all. The county counts that as a plus. It says about 1 in 5 county sales tax dollars comes from visitors.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET
The whole thing in 60 seconds
Yavapai County runs two jails, one in Camp Verde and one in Prescott.
Since 2000, a jail sales tax has helped pay for them. It's been a quarter cent since 2003, and it doesn't cover the whole bill.BALLOT TEXT So the county pays the rest out of its main budget, the same account that pays for things like sheriff's patrols and the courts. The ballot puts that extra payment at $16.15 million.BALLOT TEXT
Prop 497 adds a second quarter cent, starting July 1, 2027, for 20 years. The county says the new tax would cover that $16.15 million instead.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET
The five county supervisors, the board that runs the county, say they'd then cut property taxes. That's the yearly bill for owning a home, land or a business building. That promise isn't part of what you're voting on, and no amount is locked in.YES CAMPAIGN
In October, a committee formed to fight it. If you've passed a big "Stop the Jail Tax" sign by the road, that's them.PRESCOTT ENEWS OPINION
Who pays for the jail right now?
Running the county's two jails costs about $113,500 a day. That's the county's $41.44 million a year, divided by 365. Or about $4,700 an hour, nights and weekends included.BALLOT TEXT
Yavapai County is the local government for a big stretch of northern Arizona, from Prescott and Prescott Valley to Cottonwood, Camp Verde, part of Sedona and the open land in between.ADOR It's separate from your city or town. Running the jails is one of its jobs. That falls to the county sheriff, who is elected. Right now that's David Rhodes.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET
What a county jail does
A county jail isn't a prison. It mostly holds people who were just arrested and are waiting for court, plus people serving short sentences. In 2018, the average stay was about four days.2018 PAMPHLET
The big one
For years, this was the county's main jail. Prescott only had a small holding facility in the sheriff's office downtown.SHERIFF'S OFFICE In 2019 it had room for about 550 people. It was holding 570 to 600. Some slept on the floor.KNAU
The new one
It opened in 2023 inside the county's new Criminal Justice Center, with about 150 beds and two courtrooms. Before it opened, deputies in the Prescott area had to drive everyone they arrested to Camp Verde. The sheriff says skipping that drive saves about $2 million a year.SHERIFF'S OFFICE
Crowding has eased since 2019. Today the two jails hold about 400 to 460 people a day, down from about 650 in 2015. The sheriff's office says Camp Verde is running at about 80% of what it can handle, and the Prescott jail is full.JOURNAL AZ The sheriff credits a program called Reach Out. It checks every new inmate for mental health and drug problems within 36 hours, then lines up help for when they leave.REACH OUT
Where the jail money sits
Jail money moves through two county accounts. The first is its main account, officially called the General Fund. This article calls it the main budget. It pays for things like sheriff's patrols, the courts and public health. Its money comes from property taxes, the county's share of sales taxes and other sources.COUNTY AUDIT FY25
The second is a jail-only account called the Jail District. The county set it up in 1999, and by law its money can only be spent on jails.COUNTY NEWSLETTERA.R.S. 48-4001
Both accounts are run by the Board of Supervisors, the five-member board that runs the county. Each member represents a different part of the county, called a district. Every year they pass the county's budget and set its property tax.DAILY COURIER
Three payers split the bill
The $41.44 million comes from three places. The first is the jail sales tax, which goes into the jail account. The other two come out of the county's main budget.
Payer 1: the jail sales tax, about $16 million
This is the quarter cent you already pay at the register. People who live here pay it, and so do visitors. Voters said yes to it in 1999 and again in 2018.
Payer 2: the required share, $8.88 million
State law has a rule for any county with a jail tax. The county can't use the tax as an excuse to stop paying for its jails. It has to keep chipping in a minimum amount every year.A.R.S. 48-4024 Lawmakers call this "maintenance of effort." Think of it as the county's minimum payment, like the minimum on a credit card. The ballot puts that minimum at $8.88 million.BALLOT TEXT
Payer 3: the gap, $16.15 million
Payers 1 and 2 don't cover the whole bill, so the county pays the rest from its main budget. The ballot puts the rest at $16.15 million.BALLOT TEXT No law sets this amount. The county pays it because the jails have to run. Prop 497 is about this one.
Who pays the jail's $41 million
Today, about 60% of the jail's money comes from the county's main budget. That's Payers 2 and 3.
Payer 2 stays the same either way, because state law requires it. Even the yes campaign says so.YES CAMPAIGN So if Prop 497 passes, about 1 of every 5 jail dollars still comes from the county's main budget.
Where the county's main budget gets its money
Payers 2 and 3 both come out of the county's main budget. The county's pamphlet says that budget comes mostly from property taxes.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET The county's latest audit, for the year that ended June 30, 2025, shows the actual mix.COUNTY AUDIT FY25
Where the main budget's $171 million came from (2024-25, audited)
Property tax is the biggest single piece, but it's less than 4 of every 10 dollars. Sales taxes, added together, bring in a little more. So the money that fills the jail gap is part property tax and part sales tax.
For a while, it could. The main budget ended 2024-25 with $97.8 million in savings, and about $88.8 million of that wasn't set aside for anything.COUNTY AUDIT FY25 That would cover the $16.15 million gap for about five and a half years.
The supervisors hire a county manager, Phil Bourdon, to run the county day to day. He says the county only dips into savings for one-time costs.DAILY COURIER The jail gap comes back every year and keeps growing, so it doesn't fit that rule. The jail account, meanwhile, had just $0.9 million left at the last audit.COUNTY AUDIT FY25
Right now, the jails are paid for out of both accounts. The jail sales tax goes into the jail account. It isn't enough, so the county moves money over from its main budget to cover the rest.
Prop 497 would add more sales tax to the jail account, so the county could stop moving the extra money. The supervisors say they'd use what's freed up to lower property taxes.
What happens if you vote yes or no?
The whole question on your ballot is one sentence long: "Shall the Yavapai County Jail District excise (sales) tax be increased 1/4 of a cent ($0.0025) per dollar to fund the Jail District."BALLOT TEXT
The question asks whether the jail sales tax should go from a quarter of a cent to half a cent on every dollar you spend on taxed things. "Excise" is the government word for this kind of sales tax.
Yes means you pay one more penny for every $4 you spend on taxed stuff. That penny goes to the county jails.
No means the jail tax stays where it is. The county keeps filling the gap from its main budget, like it does now.
Either way, the jails stay open. You're choosing which pocket the money comes out of.
"If I vote no, the jail tax goes away." It doesn't. Voters already renewed today's quarter cent in 2018. It runs until June 30, 2040, no matter what.2018 BALLOT Prop 497 only asks about adding a second quarter cent.
The county mailed one official pamphlet to every home with a registered voter. It has the ballot words, a Q&A, and every argument people filed. This year that's 21 arguments for and 4 against.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET It's worth ten minutes.
How much would you pay?
If it passes, a $4 coffee costs one more penny. That's the county's own math.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET
A $100 pair of shoes costs 25 cents more, and a $1,000 couch costs $2.50 more. On one purchase, you won't notice. Over a year, it adds up a little.
It also only hits things that get taxed. Quick quiz.
Would Prop 497 add tax to it?
0 of 8 answeredYour two-sided receipt
Sales tax is the extra money added to your total at the register. Everyone who shops in the county pays it, including visitors. Property tax is a yearly bill for owning a home, land or a business building. Renters don't get that bill, but landlords often build it into the rent.
Prop 497 touches your wallet twice. You pay a little more at the register. If you own a home and the supervisors keep their promise, you pay a little less property tax. This calculator puts both on one receipt.
You'd pay about $6 a year more, about 53 cents a month.
How we figured it. Sales tax: your monthly spending x 12 x 0.25%. Property tax: we spread the cut evenly across all $4.23 billion of taxable property value in the county. For a home, the taxable value is 10% of its limited value, so a $250,000 limited value counts as $25,000. Next year's real numbers will shift a little.COUNTY ASSESSOR 2026
You pay the sales tax part
Any property tax cut lands on your landlord's bill. Whether it ever reaches your rent is up to your landlord. Nobody can promise it either way.
Your math is different
Business property is taxed on a bigger slice of its value than homes are. So a property tax cut means more to you. Your customers pay the extra sales tax. You collect it.
For our example homeowner, the two sides nearly cancel out. That's if the cut is $4 million.
For scale: today the county charges $164.43 in property tax for every $100,000 of limited value.COUNTY TAX NOTICE A $250,000 home pays about $411. A $24 cut is real but small.
For a renter, Prop 497 is a small, straight increase. For a tourist, it's a few cents per purchase.
Follow the $16 million
Prop 497 would raise about $16 million a year. The county says the jails won't get any new money from it. The money would replace what the county already moves over from its main budget.
You buy a $4 coffee. One extra penny tags along. The coffee does not get any bigger.
The shop sends its sales tax to the state's tax department, along with everyone else's pennies.
Each month, the state sends the jail tax to the county's jail account. By law, this penny can only go to jails.
The jail account pays to run the county's two jails.
With more sales tax coming in, the county can move less money over from its main budget.
The five supervisors decide what to do with the money that frees up. They've promised a property tax cut. The size is still up to them.
Shoppers pay about $16.3 million more
That's the county's own estimate for one year of the new quarter cent.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET The county says visitors pay about 20% of its sales tax. If that's right, people and businesses here pay about $13 million of it.
Another way to see it: $16.3 million a year is about $44,700 a day. Keep that up for 20 years and it's about $326 million, at today's estimate. Sales usually grow, so the real total would likely be bigger. (Our math, from the county's number.)
The jail stops needing Payer 3
The new money goes into the jail account. Now the county doesn't have to cover the $16.15 million gap from its main budget.COUNTY NEWS For the jail, nothing changes. It gets the same amount of money from a different source.
The county's main budget now has $16.15 million free
The supervisors decide what happens to it. They decide every year, when they pass a budget. Some can come back to you as a property tax cut. The rest stays in the main budget for other things, like roads.YES CAMPAIGN Move the slider to see the split. It's linked to the calculator above.
Say the cut is $4 million. That's the number board vice chair Nikki Check has mentioned.RED ROCK NEWS
Locals pay about $13 million more in sales tax. Property owners get about $4 million back. That cut goes to every property owner, including businesses and people who own property here but live somewhere else. So people and businesses here would pay at least $9 million a year more in sales tax than they'd get back in property tax.
The county gets about $12 million a year more to spend on other things. Roads cost money too, so that isn't automatically bad. It does mean the new tax pays for more than the jail.
"About 20%" is an estimate
The county's pamphlet says 20%, and the yes campaign credits the County Budget Office. Neither points to a study.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET In 1999, a guess based on other counties said about a third. In 2015, the county paid Arizona State University to measure it for real.ASU SEIDMAN We couldn't find those results posted anywhere.
It also helps with the county's spending limit
Arizona caps how much a county can spend each year. Jail tax money doesn't count against that cap. Money the county moves from its main budget mostly does count.COUNTY BUDGET FY23 The cap got so tight that the county put off road projects in 2023-24 and 2024-25. Voters raised the cap in November 2024.COUNTY AUDIT FY25 A bigger jail tax would give the county more room under the cap.
The county's own budget forms show how fast the extra money grew. In 2019-20, before the Prescott jail, the county planned to send the jails about $0.3 million on top of its required share.COUNTY BUDGET FY20 By 2024-25 it was $9.5 million, including about $4.3 million for the Prescott jail loan.COUNTY BUDGET FY25 In 2025-26 it was $11.2 million.COUNTY BUDGET FY26 The ballot's figure is $16.15 million.BALLOT TEXT The county's audit says the big jump came from running a second jail.COUNTY AUDIT FY25
The ballot says the jail's costs "will likely increase over time."BALLOT TEXT Sales tax money usually grows too. Nobody knows if they'll grow at the same speed.
The new tax would raise about $16.3 million, and the gap it fills is $16.15 million. That leaves about $150,000 of wiggle room on a $41 million bill. That's about a third of a penny on every dollar.
The property tax promise
All five supervisors have promised a property tax cut in writing. None of it is on the ballot. Under Arizona law, only the board sets the county's property tax.
These are their words, as posted by the yes campaign.YES CAMPAIGN
Most of them use the word "levy." That's the total amount of property tax the county collects from everyone.
"As Chair of the Board of Supervisors, I am committed to lowering the property tax levy if voters pass Prop 497 in November. I fully support Prop 497."
"When Proposition 497 is approved by the voters, as BOS for District 2, I will vote to reduce your property tax levy."
"I will support lowering the primary property tax levy in Yavapai County if Prop 497 passes. As Vice Chair of the Board of Supervisors, I will work to make this change as soon as possible in the 2027 budget cycle should Prop 497 be successful."
"Should Prop 497 pass, I would support reducing property taxes accordingly. Switching the burden from only property owners to everyone who lives, works and visits the county seems like the right thing to do."
"As a Supervisor since 2019, you know I keep my word. I am fully committed to lowering the property tax levy next year if prop 497 passes in November."
The promise-o-meter
The yes campaign's website says it plainly: a ballot measure can't lower property taxes. Only the Board of Supervisors can.YES CAMPAIGN One supporter's pamphlet argument adds that the exact cut "will be finalized during the county's standard budgeting process."OFFICIAL PAMPHLET Vice Chair Check told a Cottonwood crowd the board can't promise what a future board will do.RED ROCK NEWS
Why $4 million?
In 2014, voters turned down a bigger jail tax. In 2019, the supervisors raised property taxes instead. The total the county collected in property tax went up 18.1%. The rate went from $1.7788 to $2.0152 per $100 of taxable value.DAILY COURIER
County manager Phil Bourdon says about $4 million of that increase was for the jail.BOARD VIDEO, MAY 20 So a $4 million cut would roughly hand back the jail part of the 2019 increase.
The rate has come down since then. It's now $1.6443, and the board has kept it there every year since 2023.ADOR LEVY REPORTDAILY COURIER
Watch two numbers: the rate, which is what you pay per $100 of value, and the levy.
They can move in different directions. This year the rate stayed flat. But home values rose, so the county's legal notice still showed a 2.9% bump in what it collects.COUNTY TAX NOTICE
The promise is about the levy. If Prop 497 passes, watch the supervisors' property tax vote in summer 2027. The levy they set should be lower than the year before.
How we got here
County voters have weighed in on this jail tax four times, with two yeses and two nos, so November is the tiebreaker.
One former supervisor, Chip Davis, helped set up the first jail tax. In this year's pamphlet, he admits they were "too frugal" back then. His explanation: "you could still buy lunch for less than five dollars."OFFICIAL PAMPHLET
Is that true? Claims, checked
Both sides have said things that aren't quite right. The yes campaign's website contradicts itself on one point, and an opponent's opinion column gets the tax rate wrong by a factor of 10.
We checked claims from the county, the supervisors, both campaigns, and both sides of the official pamphlet. Tap one to open it.
What's true
All five supervisors say they'll cut the county property tax if it passes.YES CAMPAIGN
The catch
Your vote doesn't lower anything by itself. The ballot question never mentions property taxes.BALLOT TEXT A cut needs a separate board vote later. No amount is set. A different supporter's pamphlet argument says it "provides for a $4M reduction." It doesn't. Nothing on the ballot provides for any amount.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET
"If it passes, the supervisors have promised to cut the county property tax. The amount isn't set yet."
What's true
If no wins, the county keeps filling the gap from its main budget. The county says that budget comes mostly from property taxes.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET
The catch
"Strictly" is wrong, twice. First, today's quarter-cent sales tax pays about 40% of the jail bill. It keeps doing that through 2040, whatever happens with Prop 497.2018 BALLOT Second, the county's main budget isn't all property tax. About 4 in 10 of its dollars come from sales taxes.COUNTY AUDIT FY25 Jeff Newnum, the sheriff's second-in-command, has made a similar pitch, saying the jail is paid for "predominantly out of your property tax."RED ROCK NEWS The same two facts apply to it.
"If no wins, the county keeps covering the gap from its main budget. Property tax is the biggest piece of that budget, but not most of it."
What's true
For the jail, yes. About $16.3 million of new tax replaces a $16.15 million gap. The jail gets about the same total.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET
The catch
The county's main budget is a different story. The $16.15 million it no longer sends to the jails stays in that budget. Unless all of it goes back to people as a property tax cut, the county ends up with more money to spend. If the cut is $4 million, that's about $12 million a year more.
"It's a swap for the jail. For the county budget, it's new money, unless all of it comes back as a tax cut."
What's true
The new tax is meant to replace the $16.15 million gap. That's the biggest chunk the county's main budget pays toward the jails right now.COUNTY NEWSLETTERCOUNTY PROP 497 PAGE
The catch
"Fully" is the problem. State law makes the county keep paying its required share out of its main budget. The ballot puts it at $8.88 million.A.R.S. 48-4024 The yes campaign's website says the new tax would "cover the full cost of jail operations."YES CAMPAIGN One paragraph later, the same page says that required payment keeps coming from the General Fund "whether Prop 497 passes or not."YES CAMPAIGN So even if it passes, about 1 of every 5 jail dollars still comes from the county's main budget.
"If it passes, the jail tax covers the gap. The county's required $8.88 million still comes out of its main budget."
Today's quarter cent was renewed by voters in 2018. It runs until June 30, 2040, no matter how this vote goes.2018 BALLOT
"No keeps the jail tax at a quarter cent. Yes makes it half a cent."
A quarter of a cent per dollar, times four dollars, is one cent.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET On $100 it's 25 cents. For a whole year, try the calculator in "How much would you pay?"
State law caps a county jail tax at half a cent per dollar.A.R.S. 48-4022 The board's own resolution says the same.RESOLUTION 2026-1 So if Prop 497 passes, the jail tax hits the legal ceiling. Under today's state law, the county couldn't ask to raise it again.
What's true
Visitors do pay this tax, especially at hotels and restaurants. The county also says tourism lowers each household's taxes by about $1,155 a year. That figure covers all taxes, not this one alone.COUNTY NEWSLETTER
The catch
No source is given for the 20%. A 1999 estimate said about a third. The county paid Arizona State University to measure it in 2015. Those results aren't posted.ASU SEIDMAN
Four answers to one question
Chief Deputy Jeff Newnum has said 23%.JOURNAL AZ Supervisor Dee Jenkins has said 20%.VERDE NEWS An argument against Prop 497 says "around a third."OFFICIAL PAMPHLET David Stringer's October opinion column says 20 to 30%.PRESCOTT ENEWS OPINION
Where the two sides agree
The numbers run from about a fifth to about a third. The two sides disagree about what they mean. Supporters say the number is a good reason to let visitors help pay through sales tax. Opponents say the county shouldn't be paying to hold so many people with no ties here at all.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET
The catch
We couldn't find the data published anywhere. "Outside the county" could mean people who live elsewhere. It could also mean people arrested while passing through. Both sides lean on the number, and neither has shown the data behind it.
What's true
The bed counts back this up. Camp Verde had room for about 550 people in 2019.KNAU Prescott added about 150 beds.SHERIFF'S OFFICE The jails hold about 400 to 460 people a day.JOURNAL AZ
The catch
Beds aren't the only limit. A jail can only hold as many people as it has staff to watch. The sheriff's office says Camp Verde is running at about 80% of what it can handle. The Prescott jail is full.JOURNAL AZ
Spare beds also don't mean spare money. The county's budget forms show about 69% of the jail's operating budget goes to staff pay and benefits.COUNTY BUDGET FY26 They don't break out medical care, food or buildings. So we can't say what empty beds save.
What's true
Voters never approved the Prescott jail. They turned down the 2014 jail tax that would have helped build it.DAILY COURIER
The catch
The opponents miss something. It did have funding sources. In 2019 the board raised the county's property tax levy 18.1%, partly to build it.KNAU In 2020 it borrowed $57 million, which the county pays back at about $4.3 million a year.COUNTY AUDIT FY25 Supervisors don't need a public vote for either, as long as they stay inside state limits.
The yes campaign misses something too. Voters approved the jail tax in 1999 and renewed it in 2018. They said no in 2014 to the bigger tax that would have helped build the Prescott jail.YES CAMPAIGN
What's true
Voters did say no to raising the jail tax twice.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET Stringer's October opinion column says both lost "by large margins."PRESCOTT ENEWS OPINION
The catch
The two results tell different stories. In 2008, the county's official results show it lost 56.4% to 43.6%.2008 RESULTS That's a clear loss. In 2014 it lost 52.5% to 47.5%, and the Daily Courier called that a narrow loss.DAILY COURIER "Decisively" fits the first vote better than the second.
"Voters said no twice: 56% to 44% in 2008, and 52.5% to 47.5% in 2014."
What's true
Nothing locks a cut in past one budget. Every budget is a new vote. Vice Chair Check has said the board can't promise what a future board will do.RED ROCK NEWS
The catch
None of the five written pledges says "one year."YES CAMPAIGN And $4 million is a number Check described out loud. The board hasn't voted on any amount. So "for one year" is Stringer's prediction. No supervisor has said it.
"The supervisors promised a cut. Nobody has locked in how big it is or how long it lasts."
What's true
Prop 497 would double the jail tax. That part is right.BALLOT TEXT
The catch
The numbers are off by a factor of 10, an easy slip when the numbers are this small. Today's jail tax is 0.25%, a quarter cent per dollar. Prop 497 would make it 0.50%, a half cent.BALLOT TEXT A tax of .025% would be a fortieth of a cent. It looks like a typo, and it's still in the column.PRESCOTT ENEWS OPINION
"The jail tax would go from a quarter cent to a half cent per dollar."
What's true
Property tax is the biggest single source in the county's main budget. In 2024-25 it brought in $63.5 million.COUNTY AUDIT FY25
The catch
That's 37% of the main budget's $171 million. Sales taxes, counting the state's share and the county's own, brought in $66.8 million. That's a little more.COUNTY AUDIT FY25 "Primarily" makes it sound like most of the money. It isn't.OFFICIAL PAMPHLETYES CAMPAIGN
"Property tax is the biggest single piece of the county's main budget, a little over a third."
What's true
The jail tax has grown a lot. It brought in about $8.8 million in 2018.2018 PAMPHLET In 2024-25 it brought in $15.9 million.COUNTY AUDIT FY25
The catch
Growth isn't guaranteed. In 2024-25, the county's sales tax money grew just 1.6%.COUNTY AUDIT FY25 The jail gap grew much faster than that. Sales tax can also drop in a bad economy. In 2008, the county had to move an extra $2 million to the jail because jail tax money fell.COUNTY AUDIT FY08
What's true
In July, the county's legal notice announced a 2.9% increase in what it collects in property tax. That's about $1.9 million.COUNTY TAX NOTICE
The catch
That budget already passed on July 27. The rate stayed flat at $1.6443 per $100 of taxable value. The bump came from rising home values.DAILY COURIER Prop 497's money wouldn't arrive until July 2027, one budget later. So the real question is about the 2027-28 budget. The opponents' bigger point holds: the board hasn't said how it will handle that one.
What's true
"Recidivism" means going back to jail for a new crime. The sheriff says it fell from about 1 in 2 people in 2018 to fewer than 1 in 5 since Reach Out started.SHERIFF'S OFFICE An outside study by Northern Arizona University looked at the program's first year. It found 16% for people in the program. News coverage compared that with 28% for Arizona's state prisons, a number from a 2004 study.JOURNAL AZNAU In September, a sheriff's office captain gave a different starting point: about 39% in 2017, down to 17.5% this July.RED ROCK NEWS
The catch
The 18% is the sheriff's office's own number. The yes campaign says Northern Arizona University audits it. We couldn't find that audit. The results look good, but the data behind the 18% isn't public.
The county is right. The state and county don't tax food for home or prescription drugs. Most services aren't taxed either. One small catch: the pamphlet says "medical devices," but under state law most medical equipment is only tax-free with a prescription.ADOR RULINGOFFICIAL PAMPHLET Some cities, including Prescott and Prescott Valley, do tax groceries.ADOR Prop 497 doesn't change city taxes.
What's true
A family earning less spends a bigger share of its paycheck on taxed things. So a sales tax takes a bigger bite of their budget. Economists call that "regressive."
The other side
Groceries, medicine and most services are exempt, which softens it. Property taxes reach renters too, through rent. Which tax is fairer is a values question.
True for the new quarter cent, which ends around 2047. But the first quarter cent ends in June 2040.2018 BALLOT So voters will likely see a jail tax question again before 2040, while Prop 497 still has about seven years to run. The county hasn't said what it plans for that gap.
The best case for each side
The official pamphlet has 21 arguments for Prop 497 and 4 against.
Those are the arguments people filed with the county.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET Both sides also have campaign committees now, and both are running ads.PRESCOTT ENEWS OPINION If your car radio has had opinions lately, that's why.
Those arguing for it include the sheriff and four of the five supervisors. Two former supervisors signed on too. So did a former county attorney, who was the county's top prosecutor, and a former leader of the Arizona House of Representatives. So did the mayors of Prescott Valley and Camp Verde. The people arguing against signed as residents, with no titles.
The yes side's committee, Vote Yes on Prop 497, registered on July 8, and its paperwork lists Supervisor Mary Mallory as chair.COUNTY FILING PORTAL
The no side's committee, StopTheJailTax PAC, filed its paperwork on October 1. Its chair is Christopher Campbell, who wrote one of the four arguments against. The Citizens Tax Committee, a local group that opposes tax increases and started in 1978, gave it $2,000.NO PRE-ELECTION REPORT The PAC says that money paid for its road signs and yard signs. That account comes from David Stringer, the Citizens Tax Committee's lawyer, writing in Prescott eNews, which he publishes.PRESCOTT ENEWS OPINION
Who is paying for each side
Biggest gift: $4,000 from Mutualink Inc. on October 1.
Job listing gap: donor Phil Bourdon isn't listed as county manager, though the county manager has that name.
Biggest money: a $14,872.61 loan from David Stringer on October 1.
Paperwork gap: the report lists its spending as money received, so its own totals show $0 spent.
The yes committee has filed two money reports. Its summer report covers July 16 to September 30, and its pre-election report covers October 1 to 17. Together they show $21,275 raised and $21,047.67 spent, which left $227.33 in the bank.YES SUMMER REPORTYES PRE-ELECTION REPORT Businesses gave $13,300, a little more than 6 of every 10 dollars. The biggest single gift, $4,000, came from Mutualink Inc. on October 1. Other business donors include Arizona Public Service, Fann Contracting, Fain Group, Kirkland Mining Co., Freestone Development, Salt & Pepper Cafe and Parker Enterprises.
About 20 people gave the other $7,975. They include Supervisors Mary Mallory and Nikki Check, at $100 each, and Prescott Valley Mayor Kell Palguta, at $250. The list also includes Phil Bourdon, at $100. The county manager, the person the supervisors hire to run the county day to day, has the same name. The report doesn't list his job as county manager, so if it's the same person, the job listing is off.YES PRE-ELECTION REPORT Every donor lists an Arizona address, which backs up the yes side's claim that none of its money comes from out of state. The money went to printing, signs, a website and radio ads. In October alone, the committee paid Prescott Valley Broadcasting $4,644.54 for radio ads.YES PRE-ELECTION REPORT
The no committee's first report covers October 1 to 17. It was filed October 20, a day after the date on the county's report form and inside the window on the county's filing calendar.NO PRE-ELECTION REPORTCOUNTY FILING CALENDAR It took in $17,672.61. Most of that, $14,872.61, is a loan from Stringer himself. The Citizens Tax Committee gave $2,000, and three people gave $800.NO PRE-ELECTION REPORT
A donor named Ed Cocchiola also gave $263 in goods or services. That's the name of the candidate for Mayer justice of the peace on this ballot, too. Every donor lists an Arizona address. The money went to radio ads ($11,474.69), road signs ($3,397.92), text messages ($1,500) and Prescott eNews ($500), the site Stringer publishes.NO PRE-ELECTION REPORT
The case for YES
The county has to pay about $41 million a year for the jails either way. A sales tax spreads that bill across everyone who shops here. That includes renters and the visitors who come through every year.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET
Supporters say property owners carry the gap today, through the county's main budget, and that the money could go to roads, libraries and public health instead.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET Every supervisor has promised a property tax cut. And the jail money can only be spent on jails.A.R.S. 48-4001 The jail's own account had just $0.9 million left at the last audit.COUNTY AUDIT FY25
Former County Attorney Sheila Polk puts it this way: "taxing the activity, not the address."OFFICIAL PAMPHLET
The case for NO
It's a tax increase on many purchases for 20 years. The property tax cut isn't on the ballot and isn't required by law. So far it's been described as about $4 million. That's about a quarter of what the new tax raises.RED ROCK NEWS
Opponents say the board built a second jail without asking voters, then came back for the money. They say the county hasn't shown its numbers or what cuts it considered. And a sales tax locked in for 20 years can't be dialed back. A property tax can be adjusted every year.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET
The no campaign's biggest ask is paperwork. It wants the county to show a year-by-year forecast for all 20 years. It also wants to know what other options the county looked at. And it wants a yearly report on how the forecast held up. The ballot text includes none of that.NO CAMPAIGN
The county isn't broke, either. At the last audit, about $88.8 million in its main budget wasn't set aside for anything.COUNTY AUDIT FY25 Renters pay the new tax but have no property tax bill to cut. And it stacks on top of other tax questions on the same ballot.OPINION
What does Together Strong think?
We're staying neutral on Prop 497.
We backed Prop 407, the Humboldt school bond. That wasn't a housing measure. We backed it because it was a clear net win for families with kids and for the teachers who work with them.
We ran Prop 497 through the same test. Does it leave working families better off?
If you rent, you pay a little more. In our example, that's about $30 a year. You have no property tax bill to cut.
If you own, it's close to even, if the promised cut happens. In our example, you'd pay about $6 a year more.
For the jails, nothing changes. They get the same money from a different source. The county isn't promising anything new.
For everything else the county does, about $12 million a year frees up. The yes campaign names roads as one use. The board hasn't said how it would split the money.
Add it up, and we don't see a clear win or a clear loss for working families. So we're giving you the facts and leaving this one to you.
Two questions only you can answer
Which tax feels fairer to you?
A sales tax reaches visitors and renters. It takes a bigger bite from lower incomes. A property tax reaches owners, and renters through rent. It takes a bigger bite from people who own more property.
How much do you trust the promise?
Five supervisors put it in writing. It still isn't binding. The amount they've discussed is about a quarter of what the new tax raises.
What we're asking the county to do, either way
Put a number on the cut, in writing
Pass a board resolution with a dollar amount. Right now it's "around $4 million," said out loud.RED ROCK NEWS
Show the data behind the pitch
Publish the out-of-county inmate numbers and the 2015 Arizona State University visitor study. Both sides lean on numbers neither has shown.ASU SEIDMAN
Report the freed-up money every year
If it passes, post one plain page each year. Show what the jail tax raised, how much property tax went down, and where the rest went.
Explain the 2040 plan
The first quarter cent ends in 2040. Prop 497's runs to about 2047. Tell voters now what happens in between.
What's still open?
Five questions about Prop 497 still don't have full public answers.
Each one comes with what we found and where to look next.
1. How big the property tax cut will be, and when
No amount is set. Only "around $4 million" has been said out loud.RED ROCK NEWS The county's property tax rate is $1.6443 per $100 of taxable value.DAILY COURIER A $4 million cut would bring it to about $1.55. On a home with a $250,000 limited value, that's about $24 a year. (Our math, using the county's 2026 taxable value.)
The timing is fuzzy too. The yes campaign says the board would take it up at its first meeting after the election.YES CAMPAIGN Supervisors have also said "next year" and "the 2027 budget cycle." The 2026-27 budget already passed in July.DAILY COURIER So the first budget a cut could land in starts July 1, 2027, the same day the new tax would.
2. What the $41.44 million actually buys
The county hasn't published a line-by-line jail budget. In 2024-25, the last audited year, the Jail District spent $32.9 million. Another $4.3 million went to the loan that built the Prescott jail.COUNTY AUDIT FY25 That's about $37.2 million. The ballot puts the yearly need at $41.44 million.BALLOT TEXT Two opponents say in the pamphlet that the board hasn't shown enough detail to judge.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET
The county's budget plan for 2025-26 gives a little more detail. It set aside $33.1 million to run the jails and $4.3 million for the loan. Another $7.7 million sat in smaller jail accounts that can only be used for specific purposes.COUNTY BUDGET FY26 The same forms show the jail account pays for 248 full-time jobs. Salaries, retirement and health insurance for those jobs come to about $22.8 million, or about 69% of the $33.1 million.COUNTY BUDGET FY26 The forms don't break out medical care, food or the buildings.
3. The inmate and visitor numbers
Four answers to how many inmates come from outside the county: 20%, 23%, 20 to 30%, and "around a third." None comes with data.
On visitors, the yes campaign says the 20% comes from the County Budget Office.YES CAMPAIGN The 2015 Arizona State University study the county ordered still isn't posted.ASU SEIDMAN We did find one clue. A 2014-15 study by Northern Arizona University estimated that visitors spent $267 million to $290 million a year in the Prescott area.AZ TOURISM SURVEY That's real money, but it doesn't tell us what share of the sales tax visitors pay.
4. What happens in 2040
The first quarter cent ends June 30, 2040.2018 BALLOT The last payment on the Prescott jail loan is due in July 2040, and that tax helps pay it.COUNTY AUDIT FY25 Prop 497's quarter cent would keep going until about 2047. No one has said whether the county plans to ask voters to renew the first one.
5. A "Vote YES" letter in a county newsletter
State law says a county can't use its resources, including its web pages, to influence an election. For tax elections, that covers county promotion from the day an election is called through election day. The law allows "routine county communications" and reports on board actions.A.R.S. 11-410
The board called this election on March 18.RESOLUTION 2026-1 The county's August newsletter ran a letter from Supervisor Mary Mallory asking readers to vote yes.COUNTY NEWSLETTER She also chairs the yes campaign committee, which registered in July.COUNTY FILING PORTAL Arguments in the official pamphlet are different. Anyone can file those. We're not lawyers, and we're not saying the newsletter broke the law.
How do I vote on this?
Mail ballots went out October 7. If yours is under a pile of mail on the counter, consider this your reminder.
If you're registered anywhere in Yavapai County, Prop 497 is on your ballot. Prescott, Sedona, Bagdad, out past Seligman, all of it. Look on page 3.SAMPLE BALLOT
Prescott: County Administration Building, 1015 Fair Street, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Prescott Valley: 3001 Main Street, Suite 1E/F, in the Entertainment District, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Cottonwood: County Cottonwood Annex, 10 S. 6th Street, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET
Your Prop 497 to-do list
Depending on where you live, you may also see Prescott Valley's Prop 493 or Humboldt Unified's Prop 407. Prop 493 is a sales tax for a rec center. Prop 407 is a school repair bond, paid with property tax. We explain it in our Prop 407 article.
In Prescott Valley, Props 493 and 497 stack at the register. If both pass, a $100 purchase there would carry $9.93 in tax, up from $9.18 today. Each one stands on its own, but you'd pay both at the same register. Read our Prop 493 explainer.
Questions people ask
No. The sheriff says so himself. In his pamphlet argument, he writes that jail operations "are fully funded" today.OFFICIAL PAMPHLET If no wins, the county keeps filling the gap from its main budget, like it does now. The ballot says costs will likely keep rising.BALLOT TEXT The yes campaign warns that could mean more pressure on property taxes later.YES CAMPAIGN
No. The state and county don't tax food you take home to cook.COUNTY NEWSLETTER Restaurant meals are a different story. The milk is safe. The burrito on the drive home is not.
No. It's a sales tax. The supervisors have promised to lower the county property tax if it passes. That promise isn't binding.
Not the jail tax itself. State law says the jail district's money is for building, running and paying for jails.A.R.S. 48-4001 But the county money it frees up can go anywhere in the county budget.
Sedona sits in two counties. If you live on the Yavapai side, you vote on it, and shops on that side would charge it. The Coconino side has its own county taxes and isn't affected.
A committee called StopTheJailTax PAC. It formed on October 1. Its chair, Christopher Campbell, wrote one of the four arguments against in the official pamphlet. Most of its money is a $14,872.61 loan from Prescott attorney David Stringer, who publishes Prescott eNews. The Citizens Tax Committee, a local group that opposes tax increases, gave $2,000.NO PRE-ELECTION REPORT The yes side has a committee too, called Vote Yes on Prop 497.YES CAMPAIGN Supervisor Mary Mallory chairs it.COUNTY FILING PORTAL
No. Props 492, 493 and 404 are Town of Prescott Valley measures. Prop 497 is countywide and only about the jail tax.
In 2018, the county said the jail system cost $18.1 million a year.2018 PAMPHLET Now it says $41.44 million. That's more than double in eight years, while the jails hold fewer people than they did in 2015. Two changes stand out. The county now runs two jails instead of one, and the Prescott jail added staff, courtrooms and programs. The county also now repays about $4.3 million a year on the loan that built the Prescott jail.COUNTY AUDIT FY25 That loan didn't exist in 2018.SHERIFF'S OFFICE Wages, medical care and building costs have also gone up. The county hasn't published a full cost breakdown. Its budget forms show staff pay and benefits take about 69% of the jail's operating budget, but they don't break out the rest.COUNTY BUDGET FY26 So we can't tell you which part grew the most. Opponents raise this same point in the pamphlet.
More yes votes than no votes, countywide.A.R.S. 48-4022
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The tax words, in normal words
Check our work
Official documents come first. Campaign sites and opinion pieces are labeled. Where we did our own math, we say so.
This took hours.
Every fact on this page was checked against primary sources: the ballot, the county's audit and budget forms, the official pamphlet, state law and both committees' filings. Facts come with a small blue tag that links straight to where they came from, and where we did our own math, we say so. Nothing here asks you to just trust us.
We don't sugarcoat, and we don't hide the gaps. What the county hasn't answered is flagged as plainly as what it has. If you find a mistake, tell us in the comments. We'll fix it and say so.
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