This year’s Wild West Music Fest star LeAnn Rimes didn’t have State Route 347 in mind when she recorded the chart-topping hit in 2005. But when she sang it in Maricopa two decades later, she might as well have dedicated Something’s Gotta Give to the highway where Maricopans spend tens of millions of hours every year.

Maricopa is growing faster than almost any city. Lots of exciting things are coming to town. Lots of people are excited about moving here. Nearly all of them work in the Valley, and they have one way to get there. If the road’s not de jure over capacity, it certainly is de facto.

It must be improved. But the people feeling the strain are one crappy state highway away from the decision makers in Phoenix who can put those improvements on the budget.

That’s why, in just a matter of days, the Maricopa City Council will vote on the implementation of a new half-cent sales tax.

Their reasoning? It would directly provide funding to widen SR 347, meaning it would help the road secure a coveted spot on the State Transportation Board’s five-year construction plan and finally give it the attention it so badly deserves.

Councilmembers will vote on the proposal during their Tuesday meeting . Positive action would raise the tax rate on most sales by half a percent, meaning a medium Big Mac combo meal would cost an extra nickel.

A recent InMaricopa.com poll of 1,405 taxpayers showed 6 in 10 residents supported the levy. A little more than one-third outright opposed it, and the rest were undecided.

This isn’t the first time Maricopans have been promised an improved, widened roadway for a less stressful commute. In fact, they’ve heard that pledge plenty of times only to see it fall through.

Proposition 417 promised to raise $28.8 million for SR 347 improvements when voters approved it in 2017, and Maricopa businesses collected this tax for about four years before the Arizona Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional.

Proposition 469 promised more than $12 million for SR 347 but ultimately failed when Pinal County voters rejected it in 2022.

There’s also a “taxation without representation” argument flooding the comment space on social media. While modern versions of that rallying cry are more closely associated with Tea Party activism — “taxed enough already” — it was mainstream rationale for the bloc that opposed the tax in the recent survey.

Residents from years past supported these taxes, but what about 2025 Maricopans? The ones financially stressed from inflation and an unstable market and emotionally stressed from their daily commute — would they support paying that extra nickel to widen their one way in and out of the city?

The city says yes, they would. And it warns that sending the issue to voters wouldn’t result in any action until at least April 2027 — but if the council votes yes next week, things can get rolling while the temps are still three digits.

“It has been a lot of work, but gosh, I can feel it,” said Mayor Nancy Smith at an April 19 Maricopa City Council meeting. “We just want to pull it over the line. There are no promises, but we feel like we’re really close.”

They don’t call Rep. Teresa Martinez “the 347 queen” for nothing. And whenever the Casa Grande Republican talks about the embattled highway, there’s one figure she consistently brings up.

“Did you know that construction costs $10 million a mile, depending on the road? Ten million dollars a mile,” Martinez emphasized at the Capitol in March.

That’s excluding any additional infrastructure or delays, she adds.

That number grows with each passing year, too. Next year, it may be $11 million. SR 347 currently needs roughly $396 million to cross most items off its wish list: the Riggs Road overpass, widening the highway, resurfacing projects and intersection redesigns.

Widening efforts alone for the Pinal County portion of the highway would cost an estimated $145 million, according to Maricopa City Manager Ben Bitter.

And while Maricopa’s representatives are working to secure about $69 million from state and county funds , the SR 347 coffers are still at least $188 million shy for the next two fiscal years.

That’s where Maricopa says the sales tax steps in.

The city estimates the half-penny sales tax will generate about $8 million annually for the next 20 years, with an estimated 40% of the funds coming from construction sales. This means the city’s 75,000 or so residents would only be contributing about $64 each year. That amounts to a monthly contribution of just over $5.

Asked if a municipality has ever successfully taxed its residents for projects outside its jurisdiction in the past, René Guillen, the deputy director of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, said, “We will not be providing a response to your questions.” Asked the same question, Arizona Tax Research Association Vice President Jennifer Stielow said, “No other project comes to mind.”

“I’m curious why Maricopa wouldn’t just be patient for a couple of years until the revenue comes back,” said Stielow. (State lawmakers have passed a budget deal that erases a $1.4 billion shortfall.) “It’s curious to me, because we know the legislation is already working on [SR 347].”

How we got here

Maricopa has tried for eight years to raise funds for SR 347 through a county sales tax to little success.

Pinal County voters in 2017 approved a half-cent tax that was projected to generate $600 million for the county’s transportation projects. This included an estimated $28.8 million that could have widened SR 347.

However, conservative Phoenix thinktank Goldwater Institute challenged the legality of the tax shortly after the election, claiming it was “so complicated and confusing that nobody knows what is taxed and how.”

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors at the time condemned the lawsuit, calling it “nothing more than a post-election attack by those who failed to convince voters to oppose” it.

About $87 million in taxes were collected for four years until the Arizona Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in favor of the Goldwater Institute, calling the measure “an illegal tax.” Pinal County businesses have until next year to claim their refund.

The county tried again in 2022. This ballot measure proposed over $1 billion in funding for county-wide transportation projects, which included $12 million dedicated to SR 347 improvements.

While 63% of Maricopa residents voted in favor of the measure, it failed to meet the supermajority threshold needed for passage by 2½ points . It didn’t pass, even though a majority of voters backed it.

Pinal Regional Transportation Authority’s board of directors suspended operations of the 9-year-old agency late last year with one director saying, “There is no viable path forward for construction of highway projects.”

Board members represented by mayors and city councilmembers from around Pinal County took the action during a special meeting in November.

“After considering all options, I concluded that using the PRTA framework to improve State Route 347 or to develop a broader transportation plan is no longer feasible,” said Maricopa City Councilman Vincent Manfredi, who had been a PRTA board member or alternate since 2016. “Still, I am fully committed to finding solutions for the much-needed improvements on SR 347.”

Between 2017 and 2021, funds were collected under the PRTA ballot-prop plan. However, after the Arizona Supreme Court ruling, the authority abandoned the plan and sought to formulate a new one.

After Maricopa County voters easily passed a ballot proposition Nov. 5 allocating funds for SR 347 improvements in that county, the PRTA said its new plan was to hand the reins over to the city.

“Funding for the Riggs Road project remains, but we still need to find the financing for the Pinal County section of SR 347,” Manfredi said in a statement after PRTA board met. “I believe a half-cent local sales tax on purchases within city limits may be the answer. This option will need to be discussed at the council level.”

Chartered cities such as Tucson, where voters decisively rejected a half-penny sales tax in March, are required to put tax hikes on the ballot. In Maricopa, “there is no need to go to the voters to implement or increase a sales tax rate,” said Stielow, the tax researcher. “It’s state law.”

A ‘bold step’ forward

In February, the city took the PRTA’s advice to heart and proposed the half-penny sales tax that is expected to be approved in the coming days.

“It’s not likely the widening will move forward without additional funding becoming available,” said Bitter, the city manager.

“Without this tax, the SR 347 widening will not be prioritized in the foreseeable future, leaving our community to wait potentially decades for much-needed improvements,” said the city in a press release.

“Without a local funding match, ADOT will not be able to find the financial resources necessary to include the widening project in their expansion plan,” read the release, referring to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

This proposal has a long way to go. Last month, Maricopa city leaders held three open houses to educate and hear from residents about the plan. They’ll take that feedback and put it in front of the city council for consideration.

If approved, the new tax could be a line item on receipts as soon as October.

“We figure this will bring in about $9 million to $10 million per year, if it were a half-cent, and then gradually increase over the course of the coming years,” said Bitter at one of the open houses.

The city cited lowering property taxes each of the last six years and funding projects without issuing bonds in explaining why the time is right for the new levy. As it currently stands, only eight cities in the state have a lower sales tax rate than Maricopa. The new tax would increase the municipal rate to 2.5%.

“This isn’t just about widening a road; it’s about being financially prudent while securing Maricopa’s future and making sure our infrastructure meets the needs of our growing community,” said the city in a press release.

Bitter said “lots of people” had “lots of questions” at last month’s open houses. It was also a chance for the government to learn what the residents wanted to see.

“It was a good opportunity to just kind of learn from the community about their concerns, what their needs might be and make sure what we present to the city council and how we move forward is going to meet the needs at this time,” Bitter reacted.

Bitter said most people cared less about the nitty-gritty numbers, however, and were more curious about how the revenue would expedite widening efforts.

“I think people are just interested in timelines and how quickly we can see the 347 moving forward,” Bitter said. “Ultimately, that’s a decision for ADOT, but our goal is to find a way to get them to do it sooner.”

This is the best road forward.

Elias Weiss, David Iverson, Jeff Chew and Jay Taylor contributed reporting. Vincent Manfredi is an owner of InMaricopa .