A writer in The Times last week took Mayor Dickey to task for failing to fill the empty commercial properties around town and for the bumpy streets. I hasten to point out that the town has been struggling to manage needs versus annual income for the past several years. Presently, that pressure has been eased by the large amounts of pandemic stimulus funding and the mayor and council are putting it to good use. That funding will end when the federal government goose stops laying those golden eggs.

State law severely limits the town’s elected officials’ ability to move money from account to account to cover needs, with most revenues earmarked for specific purposes. These include State Gas Tax (HURF), Development Fees (Impact funds), Use Fees, etc. Town government cannot levy a property tax nor offer bonds without the vote of the people. I am compelled to ask the writer if she voted in the failed primary property tax election.

Fountain Hills is one of the lowest taxed communities in Maricopa County. While the value of my property has more than quadrupled from what I paid for it in 1992, my property taxes are now less than 400 dollars per year more than what I paid 29 years ago! The need for an increase in the reliable income available to town government will soon return. We need to get behind our town government and give them access to the funds needed to keep Fountain Hills a desirable community.

The mayor and council can only do what laws allow with the financial tools we give them. They have no magic wands or fairy godmothers.