Since learning that there was not adequate funding for this town and that most of the revenue comes from sales tax, I’ve been disappointed to see that the majority of the town council refused to consider the obvious.

It was irresponsible for them not to consider some way to fund our maintenance needs and to keep deferring projects. Yet, during the candidate forums of the last election, they rejected the idea of asking for a tax and offered every other kind of idea which eventually led to the lagoon idea.

Finally, after a lot of public discussion and a town hall meeting, the town council met for a special session (Oct. 10, 2017) and Art Tolis, the councilman who tried hardest to avoid asking for a tax, said this, “The current situation is dire. The overwhelming majority of residents that came to the town hall the other night were in support of a primary property tax. We should not leave the dais tonight without direction to staff to establish a number that we are all going to agree to, all be united and all be supportive of… That we make known we have an issue; that we want this town to be the nicest, most beautiful community in Arizona. We have to maintain it and we have to take responsibility for it. So, I hope that a proposal comes forth tonight that we can all agree on.”

The lagoon idea did raise awareness of our situation and now we are faced with a simple question. In councilman Tolis’ recent words, “It’s either economic development/tourism/growth or a property tax.”

If we don’t pass this primary property tax to provide our town with a reliable source of funding, the far-fetched ideas will return. It’s your choice.