Some residents have concerns about unrestricted raises in assessment values or property tax rates. A proposal to implement a property tax should also include language that safeguards the public from our elected representatives.

In other words, specific uses, certain levels of rate increase and frequency of rate increases could be required to be put to a vote by the general population. Property assessment values should remain with the county assessor and independent of the town council. Such restrictions should be part of the language of the proposal upon which the people will vote.

If the measure is approved by the voters, the restrictions on the council become effective so that, beyond certain limits, increases must be approved by a vote of the people. There are those in our town who have a much better idea of how such limits might be structured, so I will not venture there.

In closing, I will leave you with a quote from George Washington: “It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a Free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even of his personal services to the defense of it.”

As we decide about the adoption of a property tax in the Town of Fountain Hills, I think it is wise to consider the personal and community implications of what President Washington said.