San Tan Valley incorporation down, but not out

House Bill 2275 may have been voted down, but San Tan Valley’s quest for incorporation is far from out, since Senate Bill 1333 received overwhelming support from the state senate government reform committee, and could come up for a vote soon. The bill, sponsored by District 30 state senator Frank Antenori, would provide an easier avenue for unincorporated areas to incorporate and become a city or town. As for HB 2275, it didn’t fair so well, and was voted down several weeks ago. District 15 state representative Katie Hobbs was the sole “aye” vote. “For me it was really just an issue of letting the people in the area have a vote on the incorporation without someone around them telling them that they couldn’t,” Hobbs said. She was refering to Florence’s push against San Tan Valley’s efforts to incorporate. District 23 state representative Frank Pratt said he authored HB 2275 partially in response to Florence’s vote. “We worked with cities and towns to try to put together a bill that if there was an incorporation it would not hurt the surrounding cities,” Pratt said. San Tan Valley’s effort to incorporate last year would have likely cost Florence, and the rest of Pinal County’s cities as a whole, millions of dollars in shared revenue funding. Florence cited financial hardship as the reason for voting against the incorporation. Tom Belshe, deputy director of the Arizona League of Cities and Towns, said he understood why Florence and other cities with similar stances would have a vested interested in halting incorporation, but thought that the process should be made easier for unincorporated areas.

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