A nearly 40-year-old transportation sales tax will stay intact after Maricopa County Republicans voluntarily dismissed an election contest claiming the measure missed the required vote margin. 

An election contest filed by the Maricopa County Republican Committee claimed Prop. 479, a measure to continue Maricopa’s near four-decade old half cent sales tax to fund county transportation, to be unconstitutional under a 2022 measure requiring 60% voter approval on tax related initiatives, referendums and constitutional amendments. 

But the committee filed a notice of dismissal Sunday after Maricopa County pointed out the legal challenge came about two weeks too late, lacked a qualified plaintiff and failed to establish a salient argument given Prop. 479 is not a referendum, initiative or constitutional amendment. 

“The voters of Maricopa County understand the importance of investing in our roads, freeways and public transportation system by overwhelmingly supporting Prop 479,” Lorna Romero Ferguson, a spokesperson for Connect Maricopa, the committee that worked to pass the measure, said in a written statement. “We are pleased the plaintiffs decided to withdraw their frivolous lawsuit so we can move forward with these transportation projects.” 

In the complaint filed Nov. 30, the MCRC, represented by attorney Bryan Blehm, claimed Prop. 479 must fail given a 2022 legislature referral, Proposition 132, which required “any measure under which the referendum is applied, shall be referred to a vote of the qualified electors, and for the initiative and referendum to approve a tax, shall become law when approved by sixty percent of the votes cast thereon.” 

Blehm asked for the court to decertify the measure given its nexus to a county tax. “Proposition 479 did not receive 60% of the vote and the Arizona Constitution provides no provisions for rounding up to achieve the 60% requirement,” Blehm wrote. 

Prop 479 was approved by 59.83% of Mariopa County voters, but supporters of the measure immediately deemed the attempt to decertify a “frivilous” attempt doomed by the courts.

In motions to dismiss, Maricopa County claimed the Republican committee failed to timely file, given a cut-off five days after the canvass. The complaint was filed Nov. 30. The county canvassed on Nov. 21. 

Beyond timing, the county noted MCRC is not a qualified elector, or a registered voter, under state law, and added two party members to the suit too late, blocking any semblance of standing. 

After addressing procedural issues, the county claimed the suit should fail anyway and noted Prop 479 is not an initiative nor referendum, given the county’s duty to send the tax to the voters stems from a conditional enactment of a state statute, not a concurrent resolution. 

Attorneys for the county pointed out too, the initial bill held in its legislative intent that the election was not to be considered a referendum, which together shielded the proposition from the 60% requirement. 

Blehm, nor MCRC, did not immediately respond to inquiries on what prompted voluntary dismissal. 

In a prepared statement, Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke, chair of the Maricopa Association of Governments, said “The regional transportation plan that was unanimously approved by MAG’s mayors, tribal and county leaders, and supported by business leaders and the voters, will be implemented on schedule. We have a 40-year track record of success, and we’re squarely focused on delivering the next generation of transportation investments.”