Robertson v. Graziano

OPINION

TOCI, Judge.

The central issue in this case is whether the electors of the City of Peoria (“the City”) can by initiative amend the charter to require the City to employ a minimum of 1.5 full-time police officers per one thousand residents. The City contends that the challenged initiative is a budgetary matter and that, by analogy to the Arizona cases precluding zoning by initiative, state regulation of the budgeting process preempts an initiative on matters affecting the budget. We conclude that the state has not reserved to itself in municipal budgeting the same degree of authority it…