If only the Prescott rodeo grounds had a new sewer line:
- The City of Prescott would finally be able to build a profitable year-round event center, complete with 62 toilet stalls, in the middle of a residential neighborhood;
- The Prescott Frontier Days Rodeo would finally become profitable, no longer requiring considerable taxpayer and donor subsidies;
- People from all over the world would flock to the Prescott Rodeo each year, giving the City of Prescott, Yavapai County and the State of Arizona untold millions in tourism revenue.
Or so the “pipe” dream goes according to Senator Mark Finchem, Prescott’s Mayor and two city council members. All four testified in front of the Arizona House Appropriations Committee on March 31 in support of Finchem’s rodeo bill (SB1583).
But there is a catch. In fact, several of them.
First, in a complete abdication of fiscal responsibility, there is Representative Quang Nguyen’s initial 2023 budget appropriation which directed $15.3 million of state taxpayer dollars—no strings attached—for the sole use by a private rodeo organization, Prescott Frontier Days (PFD). This promptly landed the appropriation in litigation for violation of the Arizona Constitution’s Gift and Appropriations Clauses.1
Undeterred by Rep. Nguyen’s injudicious appropriation, Sen. Mark Finchem sponsored his own rodeo bill this session—unabashedly stating it was designed to make moot of the gift clause litigation.2 The bill distributes $15.3 million from state coffers directly to the City of Prescott, rather than to PFD.3 Sen. Finchem’s bill narrowly passed out of the Senate. As the bill moved over to the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Nguyen sponsored a strike-everything amendment, which postponed giving the money to the City of Prescott in the event PFD and the State win the ongoing litigation. 4 Rep. Nguyen’s new version passed out of committee 10-8 along party lines.
It was interesting to note that during the Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. Finchem took great pains to describe the landlord-tenant relationship between the City of Prescott and PFD as his rationale to circumvent the gift clause. Therefore, it’s vital to review both the type of lease and the city’s infrastructure improvements now slated for the rodeo grounds.
The City of Prescott and Prescott Frontier Days’ valid lease allows PFD to manage the rodeo and other events at the existing city site until 2046.5 PFD pays NO rent and also keeps ALL revenue it earns from the rodeo and other event rentals, including the Yavapai County Fair.6 Moreover, the city’s proposed tailor-made infrastructure improvements inure to the exclusive benefit of their long-term tenant, PFD. The list Prescott City Manager Dallin Kimble provided to Sen. Finchem includes: widening Gail Gardner Way, building a new equipment barn, and installing a new sewer line to support an additional 50 toilet stalls, for a total of 62. Other city tenants such as the Auto Club, Toastmasters, the U of A Extension Office or the community compost site certainly don’t require 62 toilets. A one-week rodeo event does not justify the construction of a new sewer line to accommodate the additional plumbing needed for 62 toilet stalls. If world-renowned sporting events such as Wimbledon and the U.S. Open golf tournament use portable toilets, this should suffice for the Prescott rodeo.8
In any event, depending upon the implications of Judge Scott Blaney’s impending ruling on the Gift/Appropriations clauses lawsuit, the legislature should ask itself whether this latest proposed rodeo appropriation to the City of Prescott merely serves as an attempted pass-through of state funds to a private entity which may create yet another Gift Clause violation.9
To reassure the House Appropriations Committee members his bill deserved a “do-pass,” Sen. Finchem also extolled the economic impact the rodeo has for the City of Prescott. Further supporting their claim as to why Prescott deserved the state’s $15.3 million, the three Prescott city council members then expounded upon the sales tax revenue generated for Yavapai county and the state during rodeo week.10
But it seems the amount of actual sales tax revenue generated by the rodeo is based upon who is standing in front of the microphone. Politicians’ claims during the Appropriations meeting differ substantially from actual numbers provided by Prescott staff at a recent council meeting. Staff’s presentation showed 2024 city sales tax revenues from the rodeo are $171,296, and that’s before any deductions for all the “in-kind” services the city provides and its forfeiture of rent to PFD.10 The same consultant who calculated the city’s sales tax revenue also calculated $320,686 in state sales tax revenue—well short of the “millions” claimed by Prescott’s elected representatives.11 While the overall economic impact is reported to be around $7.6 million, it is unclear how much of that is due to Prescott’s destination as an escape from the July heat.
Sen. Mark Finchem pleads the case of passing SB 1583 on March 31st in the House Appropriation Committee as Mayor Goode and Council members Lois Fruhwirth and Cathey Rusing look on.
At this point, the legislature should consider this simple question: Why would the state give Prescott $15.3 million when Sen. Finchem and council members boast of the huge economic impact the city receives during rodeo week? 12 Mind you, this is in sharp contrast to the message that Prescott is also so pressed for cash, it has been forced to ignore routine maintenance and forgo ADA improvements on property it has owned for the past 13 or so years. Well, the city can’t have it both ways.
Nonetheless, the city now seems confident it can maintain new stands, 62 new toilet stalls (with the accompanying new sewer line), and a new building with no new Prescott taxpayer money. But if the council and city manager’s long-term goal is to turn the rodeo grounds into an outdoor event center, then prudent Prescott taxpayers implore the legislature to spend this money elsewhere. The Mayor and City Council have conveniently turned a blind eye to the experience of other publicly-owned “event” facilities.13 Both the Findlay Toyota Center and Scottsdale’s Westworld require significant and never-ending taxpayer subsidies.14 So unless the city returns to the legislature for more money in the future, Prescott taxpayers will be on the hook just like Prescott Valley and Scottsdale for subsidizing (er, maintaining) this new city event venue.
Finally, the optics of this latest rodeo appropriation simply cannot be justified in light of Arizona’s pressing needs, such as the shortfall in Developmental Disabilities Services, school meal programs, and veteran’s drug treatment court. Last week’s Appropriation Committee hearing showed several legislators rightfully concerned about direct earmarks to pet projects for individual legislators. Vice-chair Matt Gress even remarked there is “no daylight” between House Democrats and Republicans over earmarks in the budget going into the future.15 How about starting today?
Footnotes
1 In the Superior Court of the State of Arizona in and for the County of Maricopa Case No. CV 2023-009364. Oral arguments were heard 3/3/25. The Honorable Judge Scott Blaney’s decision is due out any day.
2 Near the end of Sen. Finchem’s statement to the Senate Appropriations Committee he summarizes his bill as “redirecting” a 2023 appropriation from the non-profit rodeo to the City of Prescott, “making moot of the gift clause litigation.” See discussion at hour/minute 2:32:53 of the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on February 18, 2025.
https://www.azleg.gov/videoplayer/?clientID=6361162879&eventID=2025031153
3 S.B. 1583
4 Senate and House Legislative Counsel seemed to have a policy disagreement over how best to deal with the unresolved Gift and Appropriation Clauses litigation. Because Sen. Finchem’s bill failed to wait for the court’s decision on whether the legislature could appropriate money directly to a private entity, the Appropriations Chair David Livingston felt Rep. Nguyen’s amendment was necessary, stating he “trusts my legal people in the House.” See discussion at hour/minute 1:08:35 of the House Appropriations Committee hearing on 3/31/25.
5 Lease Agreement Prescott Rodeo Grounds City Contract No. 2017-020, entered into on July 12, 2016, and recorded on July 22, 2016, Yavapai County Clerk Recordation #2016-0035686. https://yavapaicountyazweb.tylerhost.net/web/document/DOC428S19554?search=DOCSEARCH464S1
6 Same.
7 A copy of City Manager Dallin Kimble’s email to Sen. Mark Finchem can be found at the bottom of these footnotes.
8 Asserting this money is for deferred maintenance and ADA improvements flies in the face of the city’s recent action to convene a steering committee to develop a master plan for the rodeo grounds. Why would the city need a master plan if it was simply performing deferred maintenance and ADA upgrades?
9 Addressing the consideration prong of the Gift Clause analysis, the AZ Supreme Court held that the payment of public funds must not be grossly disproportionate to the fair market value of that benefit. The court focused on what the public is giving and getting from an arrangement and then asks whether the “give” so far exceeds the “get” that the government is subsidizing a private venture in violation of the Gift Clause. (Shires v. Carlat, 250 Ariz. 371, (2021). It is entirely possible with this new rodeo appropriation that the court would once again be asked to decide what is the state’s value or “get” for the state’s $15.3 million “give.”
10 City of Prescott, City Council Study Session, January 28, 2025. Documents are available in the public records portal. https://docs.prescott-az.gov/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=1056965&dbid=0&repo=CityOfPrescott&searchid=e4ed2dd1-8f1b-452c-af3e-91a57b2fad8d The amount of sales tax revenue and economic impact varied widely among the four speakers testifying at the March 31, 2025, Arizona House Appropriations hearing. Sen. Finchem claimed tens of millions of dollars in sales tax revenues, while Council Member Rusing claimed $2.6 million dollars in sales tax revenue. Council Members Rusing and Fruhwirth both claimed 33.5 million in economic impact. Why then does the city’s own figures ($7.6 million economic impact, $171,296 city sales tax revenue and $326,386 state sales tax revenue) prepared by Applied Economics show significantly lower numbers? Nonetheless, despite the difference in these sales tax numbers, a business’s obligation to pay taxes, and therefore the projected economic impact of those taxes, is an indirect benefit that does not count in determining whether the consideration prong (or the state’s “get”) of the Gift Clause test analysis is satisfied under the AZ Supreme Court’s holding in Schires v. Carlat, 250 Ariz. 371, (2021).
11 Applied Economics Study prepared for the City of Prescott, dated July 22, 2024.
12 When asked by Rep. Stacey Travers why the City of Prescott couldn’t create a taxing district or bond to let the voters decide how to fund work at the rodeo grounds, Mayor Goode replied, “It certainly would be a possibility, but we recently passed a tax initiative to improve police and fire stations.” Apparently, Sen. Finchem, Mayor Goode, and company think taxpayers all over the state of Arizona should pay for Prescott’s poor financial planning and deferred maintenance on its own property. See discussion at hour/minute 1:15:25 of the House Appropriations Committee hearing on 3/31/25.
13 Certainly, the testimonies of the Mayor, Cathey Rusing and Lois Fruhwirth reflect they so badly want this $15.3 million to fulfill City Manager Dallin Kimble’s vision, they are willing to throw neighborhoods adjacent to the rodeo grounds under the bus. Some neighbors have lived next to the rodeo grounds for decades with no problems. They have always supported the rodeo. What they don’t want is a newly created outdoor event facility with regularly-scheduled events, and crowds large enough to actually need those 62 toilet stalls. THIS reality flies in the face of Finchem’s misinterpretation of Spur Industries v. Del Webb Development and the neighbors’ “coming to the nuisance.” See discussion at minute/second 18:10 of the Yavapai Speaks: Interview with Senator Mark Finchem LD-1 on March 30, 2025. https://prescottenews.com/2025/03/30/yavapai-speaks-interview-with-senator-mark-finchem-ld-1/
14 Westworld costs far higher than expected: https://www.scottsdale.org/city_news/westworld-costs-far-higher-than-expected/article_0e7ac44e-6759-11ed-97d2-4ffa2eec8c30.html
Prescott Valley budget: https://www.prescottvalley-az.gov/departments/finance/budget_finance_reports.php
15 This fiscally responsible attitude is a far cry from former State Senate President Karen Fann’s comments to Prescott City Council in which she stated, “This $15.3 million is a grant if you will . . . for lack of a better term . . . is free money to City of Prescott taxpayers that will go directly into improving City of Prescott taxpayers’ property.” See discussion at minute/second 53:10 of Prescott City Council Study Session on 1/28/25. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbMCc6FAo24&t=3146s
