95th Arizona Town Hall
"Riding the Fiscal Roller Coaster: Government Revenue in Arizona"
November 1 - 4, 2009, Grand Canyon

95th Town Hall Document Downloads

• Full Final Report
• Background report
• Background report supplement
• Highlights of the 95th Arizona Town Hall
• Final Recommendations
• List of Attendees
• Graph that makes up the "Roller Coaster" depicted on the background report cover
• Speakers' biographies

The 95th Arizona Town Hall "Riding the Fiscal Roller Coaster: Government Revenue in Arizona" was held at the Grand Canyon. Participants in this Town Hall discussed Arizona's current tax and revenue system; what changes, if any, they believe should be made; and how to implement recommended changes.

Governor Jan Brewer addressed attendees at the outset of Monday's lunch program. After Governor Brewer's remarks, Jack Cox (President of The Communications Institute and Director of the Governing Arizona Project funded by the Thomas R. Brown Foundations), moderated a discussion entitled “What Arizona Can Learn From California’s Fiscal Mess” A Bipartisan Discussion. Panel members included Honorable Jim Brulte former Republican State Senator Leader; GOP lead negotiator for California’s 80+ billion dollar budget negotiations; and Honorable Dr. Joe Nation, Professor, Economic & Public Policy, Stanford University; Former Democratic California State Assemblyman and Director of the Assembly’s Office of Research.

Monday's dinner program featured speaker Peter Harkness, Founder & Publisher Emeritus of Governing Magazine. His presentation was entitled "Arizona in Context: How the state compares with the rest of the nation in the amount of revenue it raises, how well it manages its money, the results it achieves, and the challenges it faces."

Dolan Ellis, Official Arizona State Balladeer, gave a special presentation at Tuesday's lunch program. Tuesday evening's reception included special recognition of student participants.

The background report for this Town Hall was prepared by Arizona State University under the guidance of Tom Rex and Dennis Hoffman.

News from the 95th Town Hall

• View 10/27/09 KUAT's PBS Arizona Public Media interview with Board Chair Bruce Dusenberry.
• View Channel 8's Horizon show which aired on Thursday, November 5th at 7:00 p.m. which featured participants of the 95th Arizona Town Hall discussing the Town Hall's recommendations. Visit the HORIZON Web site.
• Gov. Brewer attends South Rim Town Hall, by Patrick Whitehurst, Nov. 10, 2009, grandcanyonnews.com
• Arizona Town Hall Calls for Bold Action to Solve the State's Fiscal Crisis Published: Nov. 10, 2009 in Knowledge@W.P. Carey
• Arizona Town Hall yields calls for reform by Mary Jo Pitzl - Nov. 8, 2009, The Arizona Republic
• Gov. Brewer set to call back Legislature by Mary Jo Pitzl - Nov. 3, 2009 The Arizona Republic

Many thanks to our sponsors (listed in order of financial contributions):

• The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust
• Greater Phoenix Leadership
• Mohave County
• Coconino County
• Jennings Strouss
• Tim Pickrell

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