Phoenix Gets $10 Million For More Affordable Housing From Maricopa County

Phoenix Gets $10 Million For More Affordable Housing From Maricopa County

By Corinne Murdock |

Another $10 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding has been issued, this time from Maricopa County to Phoenix for the purpose of building more affordable housing.

$5 million of the ARPA funds will go to repurposing 125 rooms in a former Super 8 Motel off the I-17 and Northern Avenue, with the other $5 million going toward redevelopment efforts in the Edison-Eastlake Community (EEC) east of downtown Phoenix. 

That’s around $40,000 per room for the motel renovation, and nearly $46,000 per unit. The latter development, EEC, will include unit sizes ranging from one to five bedrooms. Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego told KJZZ that people were excited at the prospect of larger affordable housing units during meetings about the redevelopment. 

City-funded emergency shelters served over 2,600 families and over 5,900 individuals in 2021, over 3,400 families and over 7,300 individuals in 2022, and over 1,100 families and over 2,200 individuals so far this year. This year, 249 individuals left for permanent housing.

Since 2021, city-funded rapid rehousing programs have moved 579 households into rental housing: 398 in 2021, 139 in 2022, and 42 so far this year. Rapid rehousing programs place homeless individuals into conditionless permanent housing. Only one individual has acquired permanent housing this year. 

Of nearly $400 million in total ARPA funding, the city has reported spending over $37.2 million of $119.3 million for affordable housing and homelessness. However, the city hasn’t reported spending any of its $16 million ARPA funding allocated specifically for the affordable housing program. It also hasn’t reported spending any of the $5 million allocated for its community land trust program. According to the city, these programs are “pending federal guidance.” 

The Arizona legislature has also allocated an historic $150 million to the Housing Trust Fund. The Arizona Department of Housing also allocated $13.3 million to the city, with some of the funds applied to illegal immigrants as well as Arizona citizens.

The city has allocated at least $245 million in the past five years on the EEC. 

The city received a $30 million Choice Neighborhoods Grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 2018 for its EEC One Vision Plan. The city used that grant along with $190 million in leverage to redevelop the EEC with mixed-income housing. The HUD grant went toward demolishing 577 units and building over 1,100 units. 

In December 2021, the Department of Justice (DOJ) awarded the city $1 million for its criminal justice innovation program concerning EEC. The DOJ reported “alarmingly high” rates of domestic violence and sexual offenses, as well as chronic issues with drug sales and usage. Phoenix Police Depratment (PPD) had two to three higher call rates for overdoses, suicide attempts, and dead bodies than any other Phoenix neighborhood. The DOJ issued over $18.7 million in those types of grants that year. 

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.

Phoenix Mayor Leading Globalist Effort To Ban Meat, Dairy, And Private Cars By 2030

Phoenix Mayor Leading Globalist Effort To Ban Meat, Dairy, And Private Cars By 2030

By Corinne Murdock |  

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego is at the forefront of a globalist effort to ban meat, dairy, and private cars by 2030.   

Gallego sits on the steering committee of C40 Cities: the globalist climate coalition of over 100 cities globally planning and coordinating a centralized system controlling consumer consumption. She is the only American on the 13-member steering committee, and was elected as its vice chair in 2021.

C40 Cities first announced their consumption reduction plan in 2019, a year before Gallego had Phoenix join C40 Cities. The coalition declared that consumption in high-income cities needed to be reduced by two-thirds to avert a climate crisis. The prediction was based on a research report connecting consumption and emissions, “The Future of Urban Consumption in a 1.5 C World,” produced by C40 Cities, Arup, and the University of Leeds.  

The report established these “ambitious target(s)” for influencing global supply chains to control consumption by 2030, dubbed “consumption interventions”: eliminating all meat and dairy consumption; eliminating all household food waste; slashing supply chain food waste by 75 percent; getting rid of all cars; requiring a 50-year lifetime for vehicles; 50 percent reduction in use of metal and plastic materials in vehicles; limiting people to three new clothing pieces annually; restricting flights to one per person every three years; achieving 100 percent sustainable (or low carbon) aviation fuel; reducing steel and cement use in buildings by 35 percent and 56 percent respectively; reducing new building demands by 20 percent; building 90 percent of residential and 70 percent of commercial buildings with timber; replacing 61 percent of cement with low-carbon alternatives; reducing virgin metal and petrochemical-based materials by 22 percent; and requiring a seven-year optimum lifetime of laptops and other electronic devices.

READ THE REPORT

The report also offered “progressive target(s)” that scaled back the ambitious targets.  

It appears Gallego has committed to implementing the consumption control plan proposals, as well as the greater missions of C40 Cities. The same year that the coalition named Gallego to its steering committee, Phoenix approved an updated Climate Action Plan reflecting the C40 Cities’ goal of a 50 percent emissions reduction by 2030 and zero emissions by 2050. Among the city’s Office of Environmental Programs initiatives, Gallego’s administration is rolling out a food waste and composting program, the Reinventing Cities initiative to decarbonize infrastructure, and electrification of its government vehicles.  

The C40 Cities report noted that food served as the biggest sources of urban consumption-based emissions (13 percent), with animal-based foods representing 75 percent of that total compared to plant-based foods’ 25 percent. Elsewhere, C40 Cities cited the Planetary Health Diet as a model, which reflects their report’s progressive target of limiting meat intake to 35 pounds annually (just over half of a pound a week, or about 1.5 ounces daily).

The coalition hailed the Planetary Health Diet as part of “The Great Food Transformation,” advocated for by the EAT/Lancet Commission. The EAT Initiative is a project of the Stockholm Resilience Center, Professor Johan Rockstrom, and Wellcome Trust (one of the key funders of C40 Cities) under the Strawberry Foundation (formerly the Stordalen Foundation) to transform the world’s food system to XYZZ. Their partners include Nestle, World Resources Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of College London, Harvard Global Equity Initiative and T.H. Chan School of Public Health, University of California Berkeley Food Institute, and New York Academy of Sciences.

EAT leadership consists of nearly 60 individuals with professional ties to the mainstream media outlets, publications, and technology companies including Forbes, the Lancet, and Google; progressive globalist organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO), World Economic Forum (WEF), United Nations (UN); the highest levels of domestic and foreign governance, including the Obamas and Clintons, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), United Arab Emirates, China, Norway, Italy, and Sweden; major universities including Tufts University and University of Miami, as well as those listed above; and a slew of nonprofits and organizations with leftist billionaire support.  

In 2020, the United Nations (UN) tasked EAT with “a wide mandate to build a broad, multistakeholder [sic] coalition” to move people into “sustainable consumption patterns.”  

The report also proposed limiting people to an average of 2,500 calories daily, and reducing household food waste by 50 percent through government publicity campaigns and regulations on food retailers.

In March, C40 Cities published a renewed commitment to their consumption control plan. Although the coalition insisted that the report represented an analysis rather than plan, C40 Cities leadership has characterized the report as a blueprint of sorts for achieving a halving of emissions by 2030, as noted by The Expose.  

Similar to EAT, C40 Cities leveraged the COVID-19 pandemic to implement 15-minute cities, within four months of the U.S. pandemic emergency declaration. The coalition championed the same slogan used by President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign and other progressive globalist leaders: “Build Back Better.” 

The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, was one of the first to implement 15-minute cities in 2020; she was elected the C40 Cities steering committee vice chair last month. Under Gallego, Phoenix is undergoing changes to reorient itself as a 15-minute city through policy changes as outlined in Vision Zero and ordinances like the parking space reduction for apartments.   

Citing C40 Cities, Gallego has also been installing “cool pavement” throughout Phoenix which, contrary to the implications of its name, makes people hotter rather than cooler.   

C40 launched in 2005 as “C20” under London, England’s then-Mayor Ken Livingstone. In 2006, C20 merged with former President Bill Clinton’s Climate Initiative to form C40 Cities. The Clinton Foundation remains one of C40 Cities’ key partners.

In 2007, New York’s then-mayor, Michael Bloomberg, joined C40 Cities and hosted the coalition’s second annual conference. Bloomberg remains one of the highest funders for C40 Cities, along with Oak Foundation, ClimateWorks Foundation, Google, the Wellcome Fund, the European Climate Foundation, and George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.  

In 2015, then-President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden issued a call to action for cities to join C40’s Compact of Mayors. In April, the Biden administration gave $1 million to C40 Cities to address “climate migration” in Latin American cities; that same week, the president signed an executive order to prioritize environmental justice in federal agencies, with a C40 Cities representative there to witness. 

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.

Phoenix Offering Direct Flights To Tijuana, Top-Ten Deadliest City Globally

Phoenix Offering Direct Flights To Tijuana, Top-Ten Deadliest City Globally

By Corinne Murdock |  

Come February 2024, travelers can book a direct flight from Phoenix to the one of the world’s deadliest cities: Tijuana, Mexico.

Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport announced late last month that American Airlines will begin offering the direct flights to Tijuana.   

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego hailed the move as an economic boost.  

“This new connection will ultimately strengthen our tourism industry, support business, and create more job opportunities for Phoenicians,” said Gallego.

The Citizens Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice, a Mexican organization, reported that Tijuana had the fifth-highest murder rate of 105 for every 100,000 residents in 2022 (there were nearly 2,200 homicides in one year per two million residents). Nine of the ten deadliest cities worldwide were located in Mexico.  

In May, the Baja California’s State Attorney General’s Office reported over 600 murders from this January to April. 

The one city to make the top-ten ranking that wasn’t located in Mexico was New Orleans, Louisiana at eighth. Baltimore, Maryland ranked 17th; Detroit, Michigan ranked 23rd; Memphis, Tennessee ranked 25th; Cleveland, Ohio ranked 27th; Milwaukee, Wisconsin ranked 39th; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ranked 46th. 

Located in Tijuana is the New Generation Tijuana Cartel, or Tijuana Cartel, formerly the Arellano-Félix Organization (AFO), allied with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel: one of the two leading cartels responsible for the deadly drug epidemic in the U.S. The other is their rival, the Sinaloa Cartel. 

Drug smuggling has become an issue on passenger flights; reports identified American Airlines flights among those used to traffic drugs. In May, the American Airlines mechanic was convicted for drug smuggling.   

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stated in a report last year that cartels have internal conspirators within airlines that assist in smuggling the drugs. Ramon Santaliz, a CBP Aircraft Search Team officer, said he’s seen traffickers posing as all sorts of figures. They store the drugs anywhere imaginable: checked luggage, life vests, bathroom waste tanks, galley carts, garbage cans, toilet paper rolls, aircraft computer cabinets, pilot seats, wing spars, even first class armrests.

“It could be the caterers, cleaners, mechanics, baggage handlers, flight crew, or even the security guards. Money moves a lot of people,” said Santaliz.  “The aircraft is its own contained world. [Drugs] could be anywhere on the aircraft — from the tip of the nose all the way to the tail because there are hidden spaces everywhere.”

CBP conducts its drug seizure tactics using a mix of trends and chance. Officers review flight schedules and will “randomly” select flights to search. Airlines pay fines of $1,000 an ounce for any drugs discovered during CBP searches.   

Last August, the U.S. Consulate issued a “shelter in place” advisory for Americans residing in Tijuana after dozens of people were killed amid a fight between the Jalisco and Sinaloa Cartels. The advisory succeeded former Gov. Doug Ducey’s executive order to finish the border wall by several hours. The violence prompted the descent of military reinforcements to the area. 

In recent months, local cartels have engaged in violent public conflict over control of strip clubs, brothels, and bars within Tijuana’s Zona Norte. One confrontation earlier this month resulted in a deadly shootout, with two dead.   

In addition to Tijuana, American Airlines will also offer daily flights to Guadalajara, Mexico.

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.

Majority Of Heat Deaths In Maricopa County Due To Meth

Majority Of Heat Deaths In Maricopa County Due To Meth

By Corinne Murdock |

A majority of heat deaths in Maricopa County are attributable to methamphetamine, according to the latest Maricopa County Department of Public Health heat deaths report.

53 percent of heat deaths involved meth last year, or 226 deaths. 67 percent of deaths involved some type of substance abuse. The county noted that the proportion of heat deaths involving drug use has increased over the years.

The homeless make up the largest class of all heat deaths: 178 met that characterization (150 were classified as having “unknown” living situations). Nearly 70 percent of all heat deaths last year occurred in urban areas. 

Although the homeless made up the most heat deaths last year and in 2020, that wasn’t the case from 2012 to 2019. More non-homeless individuals suffered heat deaths during those years than the homeless.

Phoenix had the most heat deaths last year, 245, followed far behind by Mesa at 36 deaths and then Glendale at 22 deaths. Scottsdale and Tempe both had 10 deaths, Avondale and Peoria both had 8 deaths, Chandler had 7 deaths, and Gilbert had 6 deaths.

Phoenix also holds the vast majority of the homeless population in the county. The Maricopa Association of Governments reported a 36% increase in homeless individuals in the county from 2019 to last year. That increase was most greatly felt at the very heart of downtown Phoenix, evident in the mass homeless encampment called “The Zone.”

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego has used heat deaths to bolster her campaign to declare The Valley’s regular summer heat as a federal emergency. Such a declaration would result in the awarding of federal relief funds.

During her annual state of the city address in April, Mayor Gallego petitioned the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to qualify extreme heat as a disaster by adding the regular seasonal occurrence to its national emergency declarations categorization.

A FEMA recognition would bring in more federal funding. The city has a number of heat mitigation projects that would likely benefit from such funding, like the manufactured shade and drinking water access areas known as “cool corridors,” which are determined on an equity basis, and the special sunlight absorption streets known as “cool pavement.” Those initiatives were unique creations under Mayor Gallego’s administration.

Mayor Gallego was also responsible for the creation of one of the first heat mitigation offices within city government: the Office of Heat Response and Mitigation (OHRM). The city established the office with $2.8 million in 2021, with the explicit attempt to combat “urban heat”: the theory that urbanization causes higher temperatures. 

Presently, the OHRM doles out COVID-19 relief federal funding provided by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) for annual heat relief grants. These grants are earmarked for nonprofit, charitable, small business, and faith-based organizations existing within the city-recognized Maricopa Association of Governments Heat Relief Network that claim negative impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. OHRM will give out a maximum of $450,000 total, with each recipient receiving anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000. 

A major focus of the OHRM is providing heat respite for the homeless. The latest update from OHRM, issued last summer, announced initiatives costing millions to increase the comfort of the homeless residing within the The Zone: the creation of seven new shade structures; distribution of insulated and reusable water bottles, hats, sunscreen, personal misters, towels, ice chests with water; and hundreds of shelter beds for 24/7 heat respite.

The first and current OHRM director is Arizona State University (ASU) professor David Hondula, who teaches within the Global Institute of Sustainability. Hondula was named director of the office overseeing the pavement initiative within weeks of publication of a joint study on the city’s “cool pavement” infrastructure, which the city knew ahead of expansion would make people hotter.

Although FEMA hasn’t heeded Gallego’s call, her Congressman ex-husband did. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) introduced the Extreme Heat Emergency Act last month. 

Per the latest county heat deaths report, fatalities decreased from 2012 to 2014. 2012 totaled about one-fourth of last year’s deaths and 2014 reached a low of 61 deaths. Deaths then increased from 84 in 2015 to 199 in 2019, spiking to 323 in 2020 and steadily increasing since then. 

The county report also revealed that African American and Native American individuals made up the most heat deaths: 13 per 100,000 and 9 per 100,000, respectively. White individuals followed closely behind at nearly 8 per 100,000 deaths.

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.

Water Conservation Has Taxpayers Paying More For Less In Cities Across The State

Water Conservation Has Taxpayers Paying More For Less In Cities Across The State

By Corinne Murdock |

More of Arizona’s municipalities are increasing their water conservation efforts, leading taxpayers to pay more for less.

Preexisting sustainability goals and the burgeoning Colorado River drought have offered justification for these municipalities’ efforts, which have now resulted in lawn bans, increased water rates, and restricted water usage over the last few years. 

Multiple cities recently traded in their Colorado River water rights in exchange for federal funding: Tucson, Phoenix, Peoria, Glendale, Scottsdale, Gilbert, Mesa, Surprise, Queen Creek, along with the state, Apache Junction Domestic Water Improvement District, Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District, Metropolitan Domestic Water Improvement District in Tucson, Salt River Project, and EPCOR.

Last month, Gov. Katie Hobbs announced the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) ban on the construction of new Phoenix homes that would rely on groundwater. 

These progressive restrictions and charges also continue despite noted successes in conservation in comparison to past years with smaller populations.

The answer may lie with other developments in the state over the years. Big Tech’s data centers may be one of the major drains on water supply outweighing the net savings of residents’ water conservation efforts.

Mesa

In comparison to the other cities, Mesa doesn’t impose major water conservation restrictions. It does offer $1,000 in rebates for grass removal, with an additional $100 maximum for planting native trees. 

However, the city may be contributing to the water burdens faced by its neighbors. In 2019, it approved the development of a data center for Google that could use one to four million gallons of water daily. Arizona residents average about 146 gallons daily currently.

Yet, as Time pointed out, Arizona Municipal Water Users Association (AMUA) — an organization that Mesa helped found — chastised Arizona residents several weeks after the deal between Mesa and Google for using 120 gallons on average daily.

Meta (formerly Facebook, which also owns Instagram) is now building a data center there as well. The year they broke ground in Arizona, they promised to be “water positive” — meaning, restoring more water than they consume — by 2030. 

Like Google centers, data centers could use around one to five million gallons of water a day according to Texas Tech University’s Water Resources Center director, Venkatesh Uddameri. 

Microsoft also operates data centers out of El Mirage and Goodyear. They made the same promise to be water positive by 2030.

Over 30 percent of the world’s data centers are located in the U.S.

Scottsdale 

Scottsdale banned lawns on new builds earlier this month.

The city also offers to pay residents up to $5,000 for lawn removals, and up to $1 per square foot of water surface area plus $400 for pool or spa removals. For multifamily properties, homeowner associations (HOAs), and commercial businesses, the city offered up to $40,000 to remove their lawns, with an additional $10,000 bonus for grass strips adjacent to streets.

Since Scottsdale launched its rebate program in 1992, total rebates amounted to over $4.7 million; about half of which came from grass removals. The city has removed 94 acres of grass since the program’s launch. This fiscal year’s rebate budget sits at $450,000.

Last September, Scottsdale banned HOAs from requiring overseeding lawns. 

Residents surpassed the city’s goal of 10 percent water conservation, achieving 12 percent over the last two years.

Tucson

Last month, Tucson banned lawns and reduced water flow in new constructions. The city also required all new residential dwelling units to include piping for a separate discharge of gray water for direct irrigation: the untreated, leftover water from washing machines, bathtubs, and sinks. 

In 2008, Tucson required all commercial development and site plans to include a rainwater harvesting plan that provided for 50 percent of the annual landscape water supply.

In 2014, Tucson passed a water waste ordinance fining individuals $250 on the first offense and $500 on subsequent offenses up to $2,500 for allowing water to escape or pool onto public property; washing driveways, sidewalks, parking areas with a hose (unless a residential customer); operating a misting system in unoccupied non-residential areas; having an irrigation head or emitter that’s broken or spraying more than 10 percent onto a street, parking lot, or sidewalk; failing to control a leak; and failing to meet the 50 percent rainwater harvesting requirement for landscape irrigation. 

Tucson also offers multiple rebates: $100 per residential, multi-family, or commercial premium high-efficiency toilet; $150 for a flushometer valve/bowl combination; $200 for high-efficiency or water-free urinal installation; $100 or $200 for a residential high-efficiency clothes washer; up to $2,000 for a residential rainwater harvesting system; and up to $1,000 for a gray water system. The city also offers special incentives for low-income residents: free high-efficiency toilets, grants up to $1,000 and loans up to $2,000 for a rainwater harvesting system, grants and loans up to $500 for a gray water harvesting system, discounted high-efficiency clothes washers, and free plumbing repairs. 

Each year, Tucson makes available up to $250,000 in grant money to establish stormwater harvesting in neighborhoods.

Phoenix

Last month, the Phoenix City Council approved the Sustainable Desert Development Policy, requiring rezoning cases on new developments to satisfy city-approved standards on EPA WaterSense efficiency certifications; drought tolerant and/or native landscaping; restrictions on turf usage; outdoor irrigation efficiency standards; green infrastructure or low-impact development provisions for surface parking areas, streets, and sidewalks; participation in the city’s Efficiency Checkup program; new swimming pool standards; new wet-cooling system standards; and preservation of natural open spaces.

Additionally, the policy will require any entities that use over 250,000 gallons of water per day to submit a water conservation plan, approved by city staff. Any entities that use over 500,000 gallons of water per day must derive 30 percent of their water consumption from a recycled or conserved water source.

Entities dubbed “large water users,” may be denied operation even if their conservation plan is acceptable to the city. The policy stated that the city may reject the large water user if there’s inadequate water resource availability in their proposed location, inconsistency with the city’s planning documents; undesirable economic value and impact of their proposed water use; undesirable impact to water rates; or incompatibility with the city’s definition of a key industry beneficial to the economy.

The city doesn’t offer any rebate programs, though last December city officials expressed a desire to launch one to incentivize lawn removals. The city signed a joint pledge between locales in California and Nevada to remove ornamental turf. 

The city also imposes an ordinance onto new developers, the Water Resources Acquisition Fee (WRAF) ordinance, which may be mitigated via credit if the developer provides a permanent reduction in annual water demand on the city. 

The city has promised that it won’t institute mandatory water use restrictions in the near future, though it warned that severe or worsening drought conditions within the next 10-15 years may warrant such restrictions. Policy changes could include water waste punishments similar to Tucson’s, requiring child safe pool covers to reduce evaporation, banning turf irrigation, and banning car washing.

Flagstaff

Flagstaff has stricter water use requirements than some of the other Arizona cities. 

The city has a watering allowance schedule during which residents may water their landscape: even-numbered addresses on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and odd-numbered addresses on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Nobody may water on Mondays, and the city prohibits watering between 9 am and 5 pm. Gardeners wishing to water by hand — “incidental hand watering” — may do so on any day, except from 9 am to 5 pm. However, vehicle washing is not subject to the water schedule restrictions. 

The schedule is only permitted to be used when the city is at the first stages of burdened water demand. At level two, the city bans irrigation; car washing at home; driveway, sidewalk, and tennis court washing; filling of fountains, ponds, streams, or pools over 100 gallons. The city also increases water rates for those using over 6,400 gallons, and potable standpipe rates increase by 130 percent. At level three, potable water use is banned outside.

Those who violate the rules within any of the three levels are subject to fines starting at $25, doubling with each violation.

The city implements a diverse set of rebate programs. Commercial properties may receive free high-efficiency sink aerators, free high-efficiency shower heads, free pre-rinse spray valves, $86 rebate or 50 percent of project cost for commercial toilets, $158 or 50 percent of project cost for hotel toilets; and $157 or 50 percent of the project cost for commercial urinals.

Both residential and commercial properties may receive a rebate at 25 cents per square foot for converting to low-water landscaping. They may also receive a $100 rebate on installation of a rainwater harvesting system with 1000-gallon minimum capacity, and free 55-gallon rainwater harvesting barrels.

The city reported that their conservation efforts, beginning in 1988, have yielded a 50 percent water use reduction.

Gilbert

The town of Gilbert is offering up to $800 to residents and up to $3,000 to non-residential customers who swap their lawns for desert landscaping that uses less water. The city set aside $60,000 for the residential program, and $15,000 for the non-residential program. 

A Gilbert spokesperson told AZ Free News that they have a total of $120,000 per year to issue on their rebate programs, and that the allocated funding within that budget may change from year to year based on the popularity of each program.

Anyone who receives $600 or more in water bill credits must complete a W9 for the Gilbert Water Conservation, as per the Biden administration IRS reporting requirement enacted last year.

Those aren’t the only water conservation financial incentives that Gilbert has offered. The town introduced rebates up to $250 for residential, $400 for non-residential properties to install smart irrigation controllers.

In May, the town applied for a $3 million grant from the Water Conservation Fund to replace grass on government property with desert-tolerant landscaping. The grant money ultimately comes from federal COVID-19 relief funds.

Gilbert announced that it saved 254 million gallons due to its conservation efforts in 2019, and 375 million in 2018.

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.