Mayor of Chandler on Annual League of Arizona Cities and Towns Conference

The Arizona League of Cities and Towns aims to promote local self-government, municipal independence and provide professional and high-quality assistance to the municipal governments in the state of Arizona.

Mayor Kevin Hartke of the City of Chandler joined “Arizona Horizon” to talk about the Annual League of Arizona Cities and Towns Conference.

For 2026, Mayor Hartke, who serves as President of the League, said they have several policies they would like to see come out of the state legislature: dealing with short-term rentals and housing affordability, economic growth as well as other issues.

“You know I appreciate their efforts of wanting to respond to their constituents, and provide tax relief,” Mayor Hartke said “What I often see is that the nuances between every city is astronomical…it’s always problematic to say that ‘Well cities are flushed with money, they don’t need to address this’ because we’re all in different spots.”

Chandler has lowered property tax rates consecutively for the last ten years, according to Hartke.

Hartke added that Chandler can proudly boast of having the lowest water rate of any city in the Valley. This accomplish, however, comes with its own potential financial complications due to the nature of the city’s three main water sources; the Salt River, Verde River and the Colorado River.

The Colorado River alone services over 40 million people across seven states, according to Congress. The current mega-drought throughout the Southwest has impacted the river’s capacity to supply everyone who relies on it.

As the Colorado River becomes less dependable, the city of Chandler accepted a $1 million federal grant to expand their well system in an attempt to diversify their water portfolio.

“Water is expensive,” the Mayor said. “Between whatever cuts we take, whether its with the Colorado River, whether it’s going to advance purification, whether it’s doing more work in our systems.”