Log in

How tax dollars would be used

Posted 2/20/18

This is the first in a series of articles The Times will be running between now and the upcoming property tax election in May. This article provides an overview of how staff is proposing to use the …

You must be a member to read this story.

Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.


Already have an account? Log in to continue.

Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here

Otherwise, follow the link below to join.

To Our Valued Readers –

Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.

For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.

Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.

Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.

Sincerely,
Charlene Bisson, Publisher, Independent Newsmedia

Please log in to continue

Log in
I am anchor

How tax dollars would be used

Posted

This is the first in a series of articles The Times will be running between now and the upcoming property tax election in May. This article provides an overview of how staff is proposing to use the $7 million in annual funding provided the tax is approved.

In the next few months Fountain Hills residents will be making a decision impacting the future finances for town government.

The Town Council is asking voters to decide on May 15 whether to allow the town to levy a primary property tax to help fund government operations.

The proposal is asking voters to approve a tax that will collect $7 million annually to cover town operations.

Town officials say the tax has become necessary because the town expenditures are outpacing revenues. They are projecting that over the next 10 years the gap between revenue and expenses will grow to $64 million, an average of $6.4 million per year.

Town Finance Director Craig Rudolphy says the revenue from a primary property tax would focus on key areas of need – public safety, street repairs and maintenance, and building a capital facilities replacement fund, something to which there is no current dedicated funding.

Something also viewed as a potential need over the next 10 years is a third fire station, which would be built from scratch to include a new building, equipment and manning.

Public safety

Public safety costs include town contracts with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement and Rural/Metro Corp. for fire and emergency medical services.

The current Rural/Metro agreement is at $3.5 million per year. The town just entered a longer-term contract with the company with a 3 percent per year increase built in.

The contract with MCSO is currently at $3.7 million, with staff projecting that it could increase as much as 10 percent per year over the next decade. The driver of those increases is issues related to the state’s public safety pension program.

The town’s agreement with the county for the Sheriff’s Office services is a cost recovery agreement and the town has no control over the pension issues.

Still, town officials believe the MCSO contract is the most cost effective way to obtain law enforcement services heading into the future.

Property tax money would be used to offset the expected annual increases in the public safety services.

Streets

Every year the town is falling farther behind in maintaining the pavement on its streets. According to Public Works staff, even the relatively new asphalt on Saguaro and Shea boulevards is rapidly approaching the time it will need initial maintenance treatment to assure a long life for the pavement.

Using a zone-based approach for street maintenance, the town found it had to extend work in each zone over several years to assure funds were available for the work. This has caused other zone work to be deferred and requiring more attention when they do reach the area.

The council has decided to allow staff to abandon the zone approach and conduct a comprehensive study to develop a need-based approach to maintenance – worst is first.

Staff is proposing to budget $6 million annually for increased pavement maintenance and asphalt replacement where needed.

Facilities

Town Hall is the newest building owned and maintained by the town and it is more than a decade old. Staff is proposing to follow a recommendation to set aside $1 million per year in a fund dedicated to facilities maintenance and replacement.

This fund would be used for the usual major upkeep projects such as painting, carpet replacement, roof replacement and maintaining mechanical equipment, as well as maintaining fountain pumps and equipment, which is now nearly 50 years old. Staff also wants to plan for the day when the liner in Fountain Lake will need to be replaced. It is approaching 20 years old and is estimated to cost more than $2 million to replace.

The town is already using this model with a vehicle replacement fund that is working well to keep equipment up to date.

If the property tax question passes, the Town Council plans to abolish the current environment fee charged to residents on an annual basis. That fee currently collects approximately $500,000 per year. The money is used for numerous operations that are mandated by state and federal government. That includes street sweeping, drainage and flood control maintenance, detention dam maintenance and the funding would allow for an annual hazardous waste disposal event.

While the town cannot specify on the ballot question how the property tax funding will be used, staff plans to prepare a resolution for council approval to memorialize how the revenue would be used.

Voting info

The election is scheduled for Tuesday, May 15, and is an all-mail ballot. Registered voters will receive the ballot automatically about a month prior to the election date.

Deadline to register to vote in this election is Monday, April 16, at 5 p.m.

The Fountain Hills Community Center will be designated as a ballot center for this election and will open Saturday, May 5, and will maintain hours seven days a week until the election. On Election Day the center will be open 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The ballot center allows for replacing ballots that have been lost, spoiled, destroyed or not received by the elector, and for qualified electors to receive and vote a replacement ballot in person, and is a designated ballot drop-off location.

The Town of Fountain Hills has set a series of meetings for the public to meet with staff and have questions answered about the proposed primary property tax levy.

The remaining meetings are scheduled for:

*Thursday, March 8, at 9 a.m. at the Community Center.

*Wednesday, April 11, at 6:30 p.m. at the Community Center.

*Monday, April 30 at 3 p.m. at the Community Center.

All the meetings will be held in Ball Room I.