PHOENIX — As Maricopa County ballots are mailed out on Wednesday, voters will soon decide on the future of a large behavioral and emergency health system upgrade that could increase property taxes.
The bond measure is called Proposition 409 and would benefit Valleywise’s inpatient, outpatient, and behavioral health services.
The plan proposes investing $898 million into multiple projects, including a 200-bed behavioral health hospital, expanding pediatric and primary care, as well as growing emergency services.
“As we’ve seen the population grow here in Maricopa County. One of the large challenge is space to be able to have timely access to care,” Valleywise Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Michael White said. “Today, we’re seeing patient volume we anticipated that we would be seeing in 2028, 2029, today in 2025.”
Proponents for Prop 409 estimate the tax increase to be around 11 cents per $100 of assessed limited property value. Homeowners can calculate their estimated cost online here.
Republican Party Legislative District 14 Chairman, Andrew Adams, said he worries about the impact of the tax increase on families struggling financially.
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“People who are on fixed incomes, the families that are struggling day to day. It’s about protecting those property tax increases because it’s just a compounding debt year over year with these elections,” Adams said. “And I worry where this ends in terms of property taxes.”
Adams said his family has felt the impact of the lack of mental health care. However, he proposes that large organizations that support the cause of mental health with deep charitable revenue streams take the lead on fundraising.
"My family has dealt with it personally. I have family members that I am currently in the process of spending thousands of dollars to help subsidize, where there are holes in mental health care,” Adams said.
Meanwhile, Reverend Sandy Johnson with Red Mountain United Methodist Church said Prop 409 will “save lives.”
She’s working as a leader with the Valley Interfaith Project, to advocate for greater mental health resources across our area.
“To me, it’s a small price to pay. You never know when we’re going to be the one in crisis,” Johnson said. "My first career was in mental health. I was a behavioral therapist.”
Johnson said the limitations of behavioral health care hit close to home when she became a mother.
"My youngest, when she was 16, had a mental health crisis and required hospitalization. We were really limited in where she could go,” Johnson said.
Arizona voters approved another Valleywise bond in 2014 for more than $900 million that allowed the system to build their new Phoenix campus and modernize community centers.
