But another leading supporter, a public affairs consultant who says he lives half the year in north Phoenix, said the proposal emerged from conversations he had with DiCiccio.
“Sal and myself have discussed the public pension crisis for years, talked about what can be done about it, because city councils are ignoring the problem,” said Chuck Warren, managing director of September Group, LLC, headquartered in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
“We talked about maybe this is an idea that would work,” he added. “I don’t understand where people think this money is going to come from, unless you start tackling it now.”
Getting the measure on the ballot required a minimum of 20,510 valid signatures.
A political action committee called Responsible Budgets, which DiCiccio and Warren have both contributed to, paid people to help gather the signatures needed for the proposition to qualify. The group submitted close to 50,000 signatures to the city.
Warren said he believes the proposal is original and hasn’t been tried elsewhere, adding that he’s heard from council members in other cities interested in the concept. He declined to say where they are from.
Even though Warren has contributed some of his own money and effort to the campaign for the measure, he said he’s not overly optimistic it will pass. “I think it’s a long-shot,” he said.
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