Turken v. Gordon
Supreme Court of Arizona
224 P.3d 158 (2010)
Relevant factsFree
Phoenix (defendant) agreed to pay developer NPP (defendant) $97.4 million over 11 years in exchange for 45 years of designated parking spaces, and taxpayer Turken (plaintiff) sued alleging this violated the Arizona Constitution's Gift Clause; the superior court applied a proportionality test but improperly included non-bargained-for indirect benefits like projected sales-tax revenue as part of the public's consideration, while the court of appeals applied an incorrect primary-beneficiary test.
IssueFree
Whether a public expenditure is an impermissible gift when the public benefit obtained as bargained-for consideration from a private entity is far exceeded by the consideration paid by the public.