If you feel like you’re experiencing déjà vu, that’s because we’re once again in the midst of a growing debate concerning revenue sources for the Town of Fountain Hills. This topic was the focus of a recent Town Talk hosted by Mayor Ginny Dickey and members of Town Council, and will likely continue until a “perfect solution” is finally found.

The issue, obviously, is that no solution will ever be perfect, and we might just have to learn to live with that fact if we want to see our community continue to move in a positive direction. Nothing the previous town council, the current town council or the next town council (or even the next) can come up with is going to make every resident happy. At some point, we’re going to have to settle on a potential solution, pinch our noses and take the medicine.

The previous council stated multiple times that there simply wasn’t room for additional cuts. Fat has been trimmed for about a decade now and, at a certain point, a town government that wishes to continue functioning will reach its limit. Now we’ve got a new council at the dais and they concur that spending is not the issue.

The only other side to that coin is revenue, yet we can’t seem to agree on how that should be achieved. Would a more thoroughly researched property tax sway some opinions? Can we really expect to sustain the town on bonds and fees for individual projects? What can be done in case of an emergency if we don’t have the funds to cover it? Do we citizens truly have a grasp on the big picture while assessing the situation from our recliners?

We still don’t have answers to any of these questions but, based on last week’s Town Talk and recent letters, folks are still willing to throw in their two cents and bounce ideas off of each other. That kind of input is fantastic to see, but the talking can only go on for so long. Sooner or later, we’re going to need to put our differences aside, decide what’s best for the community and actually act.