9/17 Weekly Email + Sales Tax
Hi all,
I have a few new updates and reminders, in the following order this week.
Sales Tax Meeting
Veterans Day Parade
Photo Contest Voting
New Email Footer
Blood Drive
October Members Meeting
1. Sales Tax Update: Tempe hosted a presentation for employees on the November Sales Tax last week. You can view a copy of the presentation here, but here is a basic summary of the content.
Tempe City Council proposed a 0.5% Sales Tax in May of this year - the tax will be on November’s ballot (at least for Tempe residents) as Proposition 424. This tax would raise funds that would be dedicated to improving transit, police, fire, community services, and early childhood education efforts. This tax was designed to offset the loss of revenue from the state’s repeal of municipal residential sales taxes as well as the incorporation of San Tan Valley (which now takes a portion of state funds that used to come to other cities in the State). Early voting in this election begins on October 7th. The actual election will be held on November 3rd, and if passed, the new tax will take effect in January of 2027.
Approximately $30.3 million per year will be raised to help support and expand public safety efforts. While these are things departments would like to see funds spent on, none of this is guaranteed - like all budgets, these proposals are subject to approval by Tempe City Council. Funds could be used for things like hiring new support staff, improving the safety of local parks, improving training efforts, and modernizing old equipment. Some areas, like Police, have seen reductions in staff since 2008, despite increases in Tempe’s population - this could be used to restore or expand those levels to match the current needs.
Approximately $10.1 million per year would be raised to help support and expand transit in Tempe. Funds could be used for maintenance and operation of public transit, expansion of route scope and frequency, expansion of the streetcar line, building a bridge to connect the north and south pedestrian banks of Tempe Town Lake near Indian Bend Wash, and adding more bus shelters to improve the experience of those waiting for public transit.
Approximately $10.1 million per year would also be raised to help support and expand the Tempe PRE program. This program provides early childhood education to Tempe residents, but has reduced in scope by 50% since it started in 2018. There are approximately 7,700 residents in Tempe with children under the age of 5. This program could also be expanded, based on user demand, so that children of Kyrene School District and City of Tempe staff could also participate.
I also want to be clear in case members had questions about why UAEA has not put out public statements for or against the sales tax initiative. UAEA is an association led by City of Tempe employees and is bound by the same rules that prevent Tempe staff from openly endorsing (or opposing) candidates or policies in Tempe elections. We must remain impartial in this process to avoid any of our members facing discipline or even termination.
It is possible that Tempe Police or Fire may make statements or put up campaign posters regarding the sales tax. To the best of our knowledge this would be allowed because both groups are connected with Political Action Committees (PACs) that are legally distinct and theoretically disconnected from the employees in either the Tempe Police or Fire Departments. UAEA does not run a PAC and thus does not have this as an option - this is the same reason we do not endorse political candidates. UAEA could theoretically look into establishing a PAC but this is an involved process that would take considerable resources we do not currently have - it also would propel us into the political arena in a way that may not be helpful for our organization’s long-term prospects.
2. Veteran Day Parade: UAEA sent out a survey 2 weeks ago to see if there was any member interest in marching/participating in the 2026 UAEA Veterans Day Parade. As of today we have not had any responses so we will not be participating. The UAEA Board is open to considering this again in future years, but would need some preliminary interest from members to restart that conversation.
3. Photo Contest Voting: Given the quantity of entries in our Photo Contest, we’ve opened up voting on the winners to all UAEA members. All contest submissions can be viewed on this page of our website. Most pictures have been reduced in size to fit on the page - you can view the originals by right clicking any image and selecting “Open Image in New Tab.”
Voting can be done at this link until tonight. Voting is done by photo name, so make sure you get those from the submission page. Winners will be announced in our Q4 Newsletter in early October.
4. New Email Footer Image: Communications Director Sophia Flocken threw together a small logo you can (optionally) now use to show your UAEA Pride. I’ve attached a copy in this email and have included instructions for how to use it in your email below. The logo is attached to this email, along with a link to the UAEA Tempe website.
One quick note: Before adding it, just check with your supervisor to make sure this is allowable within your department and workplace email guidelines. We want to make sure everyone has their bases covered!
How to Add the UAEA Logo to Your Outlook Signature
1. Save the attached UAEA logo to your computer.
2. Open Outlook and go to Settings (the gear icon on the top right of the window).
3. Under Your accounts, select: Signatures
4. Find your existing email signature and select the pencil edit icon and click into the area where you’d like to add the UAEA logo.
5. Insert the logo:
Click Insert>Picture and select the saved UAEA logo from your computer. You can resize it by dragging the corner of the image. Adjust it to whatever size works best with your existing email signature and layout.
6. Add the website link (optional):
You can highlight the UAEA logo and use the link icon to make the logo clickable, linking it to the UAEA website.
7. Save your changes.
That’s it! There’s absolutely no requirement to add it. This is simply an option for anyone who would like to represent their UAEA membership in their everyday correspondence.
5. Blood Drive: The next Tempe Blood Drive will be on Wednesday, October 7th, from 9AM-12PM at the Escalante Community Center. Employees can register here. The American Red Cross declared a state of emergency in July over critically-low blood donation levels - you can help support sick and injured people across the US by donating. As usual, the good deed can be reward enough, but Vitalant also awards points for donations that can be redeemed for giftcards or movie tickets.
6. October UAEA Members Meeting: The October In-Person Members Meeting will be on Thursday, October 15th from 12-1PM at the Don Cassano Room on the second floor of the Tempe Transportation Center (200 E 5th St, Tempe, AZ, 85281). There is one hour free parking in the City Hall Parking Garage or free parking on 6th St if you arrive in a City vehicle. You can rsvp at this link until Thursday, October 8th at 5PM.
The October Virtual Members Meeting will be on Wednesday, October 21st, from 12-1PM. You can rsvp for that here until Thursday, October 15th at 5PM.
UAEA Nonprofit: The UAEA Board has been tentatively exploring the possibility in recent months of creating and running a nonprofit (501c3) in tandem with our existing organization. Nonprofits offer several advantages that our current corporate structure cannot provide, including the ability to accept tax-deductible donations or gifts and the ability to run many of our annual events and initiatives tax-free. Many Police and Fire Unions around the country have non-profit wings that they use for fundraising, and we think establishing one would greatly assist our organization’s resilience in the long term.
With that said…nonprofits are also a lot of additional work, and would require an additional governing board beyond the current UAEA Board. While there could be some overlap between our current board members and the board of a non-profit, the non-profit would need to have some additional people sitting in board seats. Before we make any major organizational changes we would like to see if any of our members are interested in participating on the non-profit board - if we can’t get interest, we’ll probably table the idea for the time being.
Non-profit participation would be a great resume builder as well as an opportunity to positively shape UAEA for years to come. While we couldn’t guarantee this in the first year, our longterm plan would be to get all board members both a monthly stipend and UB hours to do union business. We estimate the total time commitment would be no more than a few hours per month, and major responsibilities like accounting would be handled by a professional accountant serving as the treasurer.
If interested in sitting in a UAEA non-profit board, please fill out the following form by Thursday, October 1st. If you have any additional questions about our tentative nonprofit plans, please feel free to reach out to president@uaeatempe.com.
September UAEA Meeting: Our in-person Members Meeting is today and our next UAEA Virtual Meeting will be from 12-1PM on September 24th. The same information will be discussed at both meetings, but we imagine there will be different questions/comments from staff. We are figuring out the logistics, but the intention is to record the virtual meeting and provide a link of the recording to members. You can rsvp for the virtual meeting here until tonight at 5PM.
Adopt a Path Signup: UAEA is currently planning to do our next Adopt a Path Cleanup on Saturday, September 26th, from 7-9AM. We meet in the Tempe Parking Lot on the southeast Corner of Curry and Miller (approximate address is 1325 E Curry Road, Tempe AZ 85281, see attached photo), then walk north up our path to Mckellips Rd. Breakfast, drinks, safety gloves, trash pickers, and trash bags will be provided. Please bring a hat, sun block, and/or sunglasses. This event normally takes 1.5 hours to complete, is eligible for community wellness points, and is a great opportunity to meet members of the board and your fellow union members. If you’d like to attend, please sign up here by Thursday, September 24th, at 5pm.
Tempe Family Day: Tempe is hosting a Family Day again this year on Wednesday, October 7th. Parents can bring their children in from 8-4:30PM to participate in a wide range of activities and learn more about the City. Click on the link for more information and to signup.
Group Chat: If you are interested in being a part of a UAEA group chat, please fill out this form. Please make sure you have reviewed our rules and policies concerning conduct and content. Signups will be open indefinitely and we will put out some resource guides showing how people can download, install, and use the app once we have a better idea of how many want to participate.
Personal Cellphone/Email: If you would like UAEA updates to be sent to your personal email or phone number, please fill out this survey. We’ll get you added within a week or two to our contact lists.
Flu shots: Tempe is once again offering free flu shots from September 2nd to September 24th. If you are on the City’s health insurance you can schedule an appointment at this link. You can also usually get free flu shots at your local drug store, but this method does it on City time, during your work day, not your personal time.
UAEA Member Retirements: UAEA’s Board would like to start recognizing the retirements of UAEA members. If you’re planning to retire, please feel free to shoot us an email or fill out this form and we’ll send you some nice thoughts to close out your time at the City. If you’d like, we’d also appreciate if you could fill out our exit survey before you go - there’s an option to indicate interest in that in the survey as well.
Free/Discounted Summer Activities: If you’re looking for free or discounted things to do with friends or family this summer, this webpage has a list of activities in and around Phoenix.
Besides free days at certain museums, don’t forget about the Culture Passes offered by Maricopa County libraries. These offer free entry for up to 2 people at places like the Desert Botanical Garden, the Arizona Heritage Center, Reid Park Zoo, and the Phoenix Art Museum. Passes are first-come, first-served, for library patrons, but I just learned that their websites can tell you which are available at every branch.
Community Resources: UAEA is aware of rising fuel prices and how this is impacting members. We are having some internal city discussions about possible workplace changes, but also wanted to post some resources for members who may be struggling to make ends meet. This is a similar list to what we posted in November with a few new additions. Please feel to reach out if you have additional recommendations about local resources.
AZ Food Bank Network: This link contains information about dozens of food banks and assistance sites across Arizona. You can search by the directory and the zipcodes they provide services for to find food banks in your areas.
AZ Medical and Nutrition Assistance: This is an Arizona-State run program that can help connect people with Arizona State programs that provide assistance for people who need medical coverage, WIC support, or additional access to nutrition. I do not know all that the program entails.
Maricopa County Utility Support: This is a Maricopa County program that can help people receive assistance paying for utilities. Some cities have unique offerings while others are covered under one umbrella program.
AZ 211: This is a Arizona-State run help line that can help people connect with a variety of resources and support they may be unaware of in their area.
Tempe Employee Relief Fund: This is a Tempe-run program (paid for by employee donations) that can provide support of up to $1,200 to assist Tempe employees with unplanned emergency bills (housing, mortgage, utilities, etc).
Employee Assistance Program: If you have insurance through the City of Tempe, you can take advantage of the EAP, a group of resources which can provide free therapy, legal consultations, or classes on stress management.
Cheap Recipe Guides: These are two free cookbooks designed for cooking high-nutrition and easy meals on a budget. Even if you’re not a fan of the recipes, there are some good tips on stocking a kitchen with affordable and long-lasting staples.
Free Transit Pass: This contains information on how to obtain your free bus, streetcar, and lightrail pass as a Tempe employee.
Sun Bucks: This program offers direct payments in the summer to families whose children receive free or reduced cost school lunches
Discount Grocery Stores: This link provides a few examples of discount/salvage grocery stores around Phoenix that resell food that supermarket chains don’t want (everything is still good, usually stores get rid of items that are out of season or past their best-by date, even if still viable).
Thanks for a great week, everyone!