Lawless tells GlobeSt.com, “This is coming at a bad time. Businesses are just recovering from the Great Recession. It's too expensive and it has too many bells and whistles.

“We are especially concerned about duplication and unfair competition with taxpayer money,” Lawless says. “While the proponents claim there are three discrete funding components, the wording of the ballot proposal seems far more open-ended regarding the purposes the monies can be used.

“The timing of the bond issuance is also troubling as there was a massive property tax shift from residents to businesses during the Great Recession and these same businesses are still struggling to recover,” Lawless adds.

From fiscal year 2010 to fiscal year 2014, there was a 30% increase in property tax rates for businesses. If the bond passes, a typical small business with assessed valuation of $1 million will be paying $7,800 more over time in property taxes.

“We also believe patience is the watchword as we still are not certain of all the impacts of the Affordable Care Act, which was allegedly created to better meet the needs of the uninsured yet who are cited as the primary reason for the bond,” Lawless says. “Related to this, the state expanded Medicaid insurance to the poor to draw down more federal dollars and there appears to be an equity issue that only Maricopa County residents are being asked to pay for the MIHS services when these same taxpayers already pay $65 million per year.”

The point that proponents make where interest rates are near or at historic lows thereby decreasing overall costs seems valid until it is realized that the total cost of the bond ($935 million is the actual amount) with principal and interest will exceed $1.4 billion over 27 years.

The NAIOP board says it needs the Affordable Care Act provisions to be understood with all of the attendant costs associated with its implementation before Arizona embarks on the bond issuance where a new hospital and multiple clinics financed by taxpayer money are constructed only to compete against private hospital systems in an area that already has excess bed capacity and duplication of services. The costs will be shouldered by the same private payers.

“Our board has also set aside some level of funding for the opposition campaign formed by ATRA,” Lawless says of a $10,000 contribution to be made by NAIOP Arizona to the opposition campaign.