The recent accident involving the dirt haulers is another indication, albeit subtle, of why we need to increase sustainable revenue for the town.

What does a rear-ender between two trucks have to do with the town’s budget? Let me share. With the drastic staff reductions in place, every town employee is wearing two or three hats and only has four days a week to deal with the many issues that arise. Attention to detail is often conflicted in such situations.

Because it has never been brought up to four lane boulevard status, Fountain Hills Boulevard was deemed not viable as a route for the heavy haulers in the numbers needed to support the construction project in Fire Rock, so these loaded trucks must drive past it to Palisades, which gives them a serious downgrade to navigate.

If one has time to think about it, the likelihood that, sooner or later, one of these heavily loaded trucks would have a mechanical failure resulting in an accident becomes more obvious. Since Saguaro and its new asphalt is not viable and we don’t have funds for additional police presence along the route, and considering they are only about half finished, we may yet have another accident. Let’s hope not!

I would like to believe that, given more time to consider options, town staff would have found a better way to manage the situation. Given time and funding, we might have let them use Fountain Hills Boulevard, a safer route, and rebuilt it after they were finished hauling.