Sedona residents and visitors pay 9.85% in combined state and local sales taxes when in Yavapai County and 10.4% when in Coconino County. The Coconino County rate, one of the highest in the United States, exceeds tax rates in Chicago, Long Beach, Calif., and Seattle.

Nonetheless, Sedona’s tax rate did not stop residents from donating more than $210,000 in private donations from the beginning of 2018 through June 2023, not including funds it raised by selling police patches and commemorative coins. Significant donors and donation amounts during this period included:

• $65,000 from Gary and Diane Carson toward the Art in the Roundabouts program
• $25,700 from Friends of the Posse Grounds for the purchase of sound equipment for the Posse Grounds Pavilion and to fund the Red Dirt Concerts series for a five-year period
• $21,527 from multiple donors toward the Sedona Police Department’s Cadet program [formerly the Explorers program], including $5,000 from Arpad I. Papp, $2,175 from the Arizona Community Foundation, $1,000 from the Kiwanis Club, $900 from Working on It, $837 from Exposures International Gallery of Fine Art and $442 from Yavapai Metal Recycling
• $15,000 from SEI Private Trust Company to the Sedona Police Department
• $12,500 from Arizona Public Service for city programs including Celebration of Spring, Fourth of July, Sedona Stumble and Pumpkin Splash
• $11,329.86 from multiple donors toward the costs of the SPD’s K-9, including $5,900 from Joseph Iaia
• $7,500 from an anonymous donor to SPD
• $4,500 from Arizona Water Company for city programs including Celebration of Spring, Pumpkin Splash, Trunk or Treat and the Food Truck Festival

Excluding the Art in the Roundabouts contribution, SPD was the city department that received the largest share of private donations during this period. The department’s proposed base budget for fiscal year 2024 is $9,497,800.

Cost Sharing

The city classifies donations in return for which donors receive a direct benefit as cost-sharing arrangements rather than donations. The city’s most recent cost-sharing arrangements have included:

• $17,000 from The Estates at North Slopes Homeowner’s Association for the construction of a shared use path and the installation of roadside boulders along Dry Creek Road in 2019
• $75,000 from Los Abrigados Resort to build a connection from its property to Brewer Road across the city’s Ranger Station parcel, completed in August 2022
• $250,000 apiece from Los Abrigados Resort and Tlaquepaque Partners paid according to different installment schedules between 2017 and 2021 for drainage improvements to Soldier Wash

The city also entered into an agreement with Canyon Portal LLC to cover cost overruns for the Amara turn lane in Uptown if costs exceeded $308,361.89. The project’s costs were below this estimate and no contribution from Canyon Portal was required.

Although the city entered into an intergovernmental agreement with the Arizona Department of Transportation during 2018 for right-turn lane improvements to State Routes 89A and 179, this was an ADOT-managed project to which the city made a financial contribution rather than ADOT making a contribution to the city.