The city of Scottsdale is aware that the Goldwater Institute has filed a legal challenge seeking to invalidate the Protect and Preserve Scottsdale tax before it goes into effect on July 1. Scottsdale’s tax was approved by 58.25% of the city’s voters on the November 2024 general election ballot.

The city is confident its ballot item and election result comply with the Arizona Constitution and all applicable election laws:

• The 60% tax approval threshold does not apply to local ballot measures: it is in a section of the constitution that regulates statewide initiatives and referendums, not in the separate section of the constitution applicable to city initiatives and referendums. 
• Voter approval of a similar countywide transportation sales tax was challenged on the same basis in 2024 and subsequently dropped.

The city is disappointed that this challenge was filed more than six months after the City Council canvassed the election and declared Scottsdale's ballot measure to have passed. Scottsdale's legal team is now working to resolve this matter quickly so that the community improvements this tax will pay for can begin when the new fiscal year starts on July 1.