Town Council, it’s time to move on…

We’re talking, of course, about the environmental fee approved by a narrow 4-3 council vote in November of last year.

A different Town Council first started talking about enacting a possible environmental fee back in 2007. There have been a total of 18 council meetings where the fee was discussed between October 2007 and November 2014.

The fee approved by the council will charge $3 per month per parcel in Fountain Hills – regardless of zoning, unit size, dwelling, etc. That works out to $36 per year per parcel.

Given the timeframe of discussion over a seven-year period and the many objections raised to such a fee, it’s clear there are numerous arguments against enacting a fee in this manner for this purpose.

For those citizens who don’t already know, the fee is being charged to cover those expenses that have been mandated through the years by the federal and state government. Expenses such as permits, illegal dumping cleanup, annual wash maintenance, on-call storm damage cleanup, dam inspections, drainage and culvert maintenance, street sweeping and household hazardous waste collection would be paid out of these environmental fee revenues.

The above expenses have become a drain on the General Fund, and the new fee will provide additional income to cover these expenses and free up budgetary monies for other uses in the town.

Sure, “the system” isn’t perfect and not all the fees will be collected. There will be billing questions. There will be time spent explaining the process to citizens.

But a majority of the Town Council voted in favor of this system, and as Councilman Henry Leger said last week – a councilman, by the way, who voted against the measure – it’s time for the council to move forward and respect the majority’s decision. Additional delays and bemoaning the process won’t help anything.