There seems to be a parallel between the effort to incorporate our community in 1989 and what is happening today. At the time, a concerted effort was undertaken by concerned residents to educate voters that it was to their advantage to create our own town.
Their slogan was “Control your fate, incorporate.” Those wishing to have this area remain a county island said “Status quo is the way to go.” Plus, a third contingent felt annexation to Scottsdale would be better.
What’s interesting is that just like now, there was one person so opposed to incorporation that he couldn’t write letters to The Fountain Hills Times often enough. When he reached the maximum number of letters in a month, he ran a paid ad. Sound familiar?
This person even had a nearly billboard-sized banner erected at the entrance to our community urging people to vote no. And amazingly, he paid for an airplane to fly a “Vote No” banner back and forth over our community.
Rest assured that I fully support free speech. The individual was within his rights to aggressively promote his point of view. But fortunately, a majority of voters educated themselves about incorporation and voted yes to create the Town of Fountain Hills.
My hope is that voters will now take the time to become educated about the desperate need for a primary property tax. Answers to frequently asked questions are already available at saveFH.com.
There are two important points everyone should know. One is that the proposed tax is only about one dollar a day for the average home. And two, we would still have one of the lowest property taxes in the nation. Just ask anyone who has moved here from somewhere else.
