During the Dec. 19 Town Council meeting, the Town’s Economic Development Director stated “there was a digital opinion piece in the FH Times Independent that said that the Council approved $535,000 in streetscape. That is, actually, not true. So, I can tell you that personally but if you don’t believe me, you can go to our Town website, go to the June 6 meeting and select the presentation...After that meeting I went to Manager Goodwin and CFO Pock and asked them to remove it. So, again that has been removed. Just wanted to make that [clear] publicly because our businesses and residents were confused.”

I checked the Times Independent’s website and was not surprised to see that the only letter that mentioned $535,000 in streetscape was from Councilmember Skillicorn. He stated he had proposed $1.293 million in budget cuts, which included “$535,000 for streetscape (whatever that is).”

Three very disturbing things jump out from his letter. First, and the most egregious, is the false claim that the $535,000 was included in the budget. Did he vote on the budget not knowing what was in it?

Second is his comment of “(whatever that is).” Did he not ask sufficient questions to understand what was being proposed?

Third, his contention that had his budget been passed, “we could have had $1,293,000 as a down payment to fix our roads and prevent a future tax hike,” is false because his figure of $1.293 million is reduced to $758,000, which would re-construct only 7/10 of a mile of pre-incorporation roads, using estimates from the citizen road committee. That’s not going to prevent a future tax hike.

For someone who claims he is a fiscal hawk, it’s obvious Skillicorn is not paying very close attention to fiscal matters.

Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.