My wife and I are part-time residents, seven months, and property owners in Fountain Hills for over 18 years.

My current and previous thoughts have been that the Town of Fountain Hills – that is, the residents – have been impudent by relying on a volatile source of revenue (sales tax and fees) to finance the operations of the town. Common sense dictates that ongoing, relatively fixed costs such as police, fire, maintenance and other community services, should have a reliable revenue stream to pay for them.

A property tax based on properly determined property values is such a reliable source.

If the feeling of some full-time residents is that you cannot trust the elected officials to control costs because it is too easy to increase the property tax each year, then vote them out of office. In the meantime, there is a revenue problem that has to be fixed.

Relying on sales tax and fees will not solve it unless we are willing to cut services to balance cost with revenues.

We, as part-time residents, are willing to pay our fair share through a property tax.