I attended the Chamber breakfast and witnessed Mayor Linda Kavanagh’s annual “State of the Town” address.

She did a great job summarizing all the wonderful things that happened this past year and, of course, alluding that 2017 will be better.

Huge puzzle pieces missing, however, were the “challenges” facing us.

Couldn’t help but think about that front-page headline in last week’s Times: “Town budget is Council concern.”

We as residents have been spoiled for so many years by something called “state-shared revenues.” We have dangerously relied on this tenuous source of income for decades. It is subject to economic upheavals and the whims of state lawmakers.

It’s time to put on our big boy pants, roll up our sleeves and once again consider a town property tax.

This is a permanent investment in our town, by our own residents, and we will retain control of these funds through council elections.

“Egads!” the critics rant, we’ll turn into the East Coast or those rich suburbs circling Chicago being choked out by taxes.

Fiddlesticks…

Participants of Vision Fountain Hills saw the facts and saw the light. Our current economic model is not sustainable, unless living bare bones with decaying infrastructure is a great lifestyle.

We have a structural problem with our town finances, and we need to stop being ostriches and instead hunt down that elephant in the room and take care of business.

The Town Council needs to stop kicking the can down the street and take responsibility. Let’s not imitate Congress. Some new homes, tourism and a few more shops won’t cut it in the revenue department.

Calling for an election “by the people” is not an endorsement of anything. Let the citizens decide!

Our town’s future is too important to worry about political and personal legacies.