Fountain Hills residents should feel fortunate that we do not have a tax-and-spend local government, primarily, because we have a non-partisan Council composed of local residents.

The town’s business is conducted in a transparent fashion with ample opportunity for citizens to contribute their ideas. At the same time we all must understand that building and maintaining a community takes a reliable and sustainable source of revenue.

We no longer have the tax revenue generated by home and business construction which forced dramatic cuts in both staff and maintenance of the town’s infrastructure. We are faced with a sizeable budget shortfall and there simply are no more cuts to give, which leads us to investigate other means of generating revenue.

Attracting new residents to increase sales tax income will not solve the issue. Consider that to raise one million dollars of existing sales tax revenues would require over a $32 million dollar increase in sales. Possibilities are a public safety taxing district, which would require legislative action and a vote of the citizens, or a primary property tax which would also require a majority vote.

A recent writer suggested that enacting a property tax was imminent and could result in annual increases of two percent per year and that we would have no say in the matter. That simply is not true. First, we all do have input and can vote an over-spending Council out of office. That is our first line of control. No one wants an out of control property tax situation like those in the Midwest and East. That scenario typically does not exist in the Arizona communities which have a primary property tax.

We must face reality and work together to find a solution that works for all of us, not just some.