Several recent letters have promoted a public safety fee dedicated to meet the largest budget needs, even though we established that billing and collecting such fees is fraught with problems when implementing the environmental fee.

While payment of that fee is collected at a respectable rate, we have a serious question of what that rate would be for a sum necessary to raise enough for fire and police protection. There is little to no recourse in the case of non-payment. There is also no guarantee that there could not be arbitrary increases in such a fee.

Many have said we would be the highest taxed population in the area. A check of the tax rates for communities in Maricopa County shows 15 of the 25 communities in the county have a primary property tax.

It has been mentioned that Mesa does not. However, Mesa has a secondary rate more than twice that of Fountain Hills and their school tax rate is more than three times ours, including our supplemental school tax. Gilbert does not have a primary property tax either but, like Mesa, their secondary rate is twice ours plus they have a Fire District tax.

When you look at the secondary rates of the 20 towns that have one you will find that 13 have rates higher than Fountain Hills.

While our buildings may not be crumbling, we have pushed street maintenance out to the point where we face extreme expense if we can’t establish a reasonable program with sufficient staff to manage the town’s affairs.

The best public relations firm in the world is not likely to help us attract new businesses or residents if we are unwilling to take proper care of what we have. A primary property tax is the best way to solve the problem.