Flagstaff’s Public Safety Needs: What Voters Should Know 

The health and safety of Flagstaff residents is a priority for your City Council and staff. When the city invests in parks, recreational facilities, workforce housing, local nonprofits, economic development, and public safety, it’s investing in the health and safety of residents. With that goal in mind, Flagstaff voters will see two city propositions on November’s ballot.

Before diving into the details, I want to address why these measures are on your ballot. During the recession that began in 2008, the city implemented a 19% budget cut across the organization while the community’s service expectations remained unchanged. Since then, the city’s population and visitation have grown, but ongoing revenue hasn’t been enough to build back to pre-recession service levels funding levels plus meet increasing needs (edit added after FBN column was submitted). For instance, funding designated for personnel under Proposition 404 amounts to a $12 million investment for one year, but without it passing, the general fund doesn’t have the ongoing revenue to support this need. If City Council utilized their full capacity to raise primary property taxes, it would produce less than $700,000 for general fund purposes.

The city has been working since 2019 to find ways to fully fund public safety needs. Given the realities of the revenue versus costs, there is no way to cut enough from the budget to reallocate what is needed to public safety. The city formed a Public Safety Citizens’ Committee to review the needs, “check the math,” and look for alternative funding sources. This committee met from November 2025 through May 2026, almost weekly to pore over budgets and other documents. Skeptical at first, committee members ultimately voted unanimously to recommend placing a sales tax and a general obligation bond on our ballots in order to raise the revenue needed to minimally fund the city’s public safety needs. The City Council then voted unanimously to place them on the November 2026 ballot.

I recognize that we’re all feeling squeezed by economic pressures, but the longer we wait to act, the more construction, equipment, and supply costs escalate—and the more our first responders burn out.

Proposition 404 is a half-cent sales tax (50 cents on a $100 purchase) that expires in 15 years. Food prepared at home (groceries) and residential rent aren’t taxable in Flagstaff and wouldn’t be impacted. This measure would enable additional public safety staffing, operating maintenance, training, supplies, and equipment.

Proposition 405 is a general obligation bond to build the facilities and purchase the specialized equipment and software needed to put Flagstaff public safety in an excellent and strategic position for the future. The $40 million bond is within the city’s bonding capacity, meaning the existing secondary property tax rate remains the same.

Similar public safety measures have recently passed in several Arizona cities, including Chandler, Glendale, Phoenix, Mesa, and Prescott. This November, Tempe, Mesa, and Avondale voters will also vote on new sales taxes and/or general obligation bonds for public safety.

Flagstaff Fire Department and Airport Rescue

Flagstaff and Coconino County are known nationally for our work on forest health, flood mitigation, and advocacy to bring insurance premiums down. Despite strong regional, state, and federal partnerships and investment, we remain concerned about the risk of catastrophic wildland fire around Flagstaff. Now is our opportunity to increase forest health and wildland fire mitigation efforts, potentially having a positive impact on insurance rates and availability.

More than 14,000 acres around Flagstaff have been restored with ecologically based, wildfire risk-reduction thinning in Flagstaff Watershed Protection Project priority areas, where threats include diminished water quality and post-fire flooding. The original $10 million investment has leveraged more than $40 million to plan and complete significant forest restoration work, with more in the works. The city partners with the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, Coconino County Flood Control District, and Coconino National Forest on this effort, and the City Council advocates year-round for state and federal support to continue this work. With additional staff and funding, we can build on our success and get this work done even faster.

If Proposition 404 passes, the Flagstaff Fire Department (FFD) and Airport Fire and Rescue will hire additional firefighters—a critical need to meet national standards, provide additional safety to firefighters and residents, and meet the needs of a changing community. Those hired by FFD will include firefighters with specialized training in areas such as wildland fire and medical response. Current firefighters will be able to train and promote into higher ranks.

Proposition 404 includes funding for annual operating expenses and maintenance, cancer testing, turnouts, training, equipment, and supplies.

The results will include faster response times with appropriate equipment and staffing, increased wildland forest management and fire mitigation, dedicated training staff, and reduced stress and burnout.

Proposition 405, the general obligation bond—will pay for fire and medical emergency equipment, wildland fire management equipment, fire fleet, property acquisition and construction of a seventh fire station, a wildland fire management facility, property acquisition for a fire administration facility, fire station remodeling and expansion, and fire training facility construction.

Flagstaff Police Department

Police and fire call volumes have nearly doubled with very little increase in staffing.

With proposition 404 funding, the Flagstaff Police Department (FPD) will hire additional sworn officers and staff. This includes records technicians, evidence supervisor, dispatch call takers, crime analyst, executive assistant, police aides, property control coordinator, training officer, detectives, and patrol officers. As with the FFD, current officers will be able to train and promote into higher ranks.

This proposition will also pay for annual operating and maintenance expenses for new vehicles and new or expanded facilities, criminal investigation tools, and updated dispatch technology. The result will be faster response times, well-maintained equipment, and critical dispatch technology that serves not only Flagstaff police and fire, but also surrounding fire districts, the Arizona Department of Public Safety, and the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office.

Proposition 405 will provide funding for new police vehicles, an incident command vehicle, and expansion of the police department building and evidence warehouse.

Emergency Management

The city has an emergency management plan for every type of emergency—informed by fire, police, and surrounding first responders. The emergency manager is responsible for triggering emergency plans, coordinating disaster response efforts, ensuring the public receives timely information, and activating city divisions when an emergency affects city services.

Proposition 404 will help to fund three staff positions and updates to emergency management plans, equipment, and supplies.

Proposition 405 will fund an emergency management vehicle.

Conclusion and Ways to Learn More

Because public safety is a priority, if Propositions 404 and 405 pass, current ongoing funding won’t decrease, and spending development impact fees (currently $15 million accrued) on public safety facilities will continue.

Proposition 404’s sales tax enables additional staffing, while Proposition 405’s bond builds the facilities and purchases the equipment and software needed to put Flagstaff public safety in an excellent and strategic position heading for the future. Each is critical.

Keeping our community safe is always top of mind for me. Readers will be glad to know that Flagstaff’s fire, airport, police, and emergency management staff work closely on safety planning, and all four work with regional partners on drills to ensure they’re ready for any emergency.

Join the city and FUSD for a ballot open house on Wednesday, Oct. 7, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Aquaplex, 1702 N Fourth St. I’ll be at Foxglenn Park Ramada 1 on Saturday Oct. 17, from 2 to 4 p.m. with representatives from police and fire if you’d like to drop in. Please join me and public safety leadership for my “Coffee with the Mayor” on Thursday, Oct. 22, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at Mayan Winds, 2144 N Fourth St.

View the funding allocations, see an overview and all the details of both propositions, read an extensive Q&A, and review the work of the Public Safety Citizens’ Committee at publicsafetyballot.com.

This column appears in the October 2026 edition of Flagstaff Business News.