Vice Mayor Art Tolis told residents attending a Town Talk event with Mayor Ginny Dickey on Feb. 26, that it is vitally important for Fountain Hills to keep up with road maintenance to maintain the economic integrity of the community.

Tolis has previously expressed his vision for the community is that of a “Beverly Hills” in Arizona and reiterated that last week.

The town needs to look closely at costs to redo failing streets and do what it takes to maintain those in better condition, he said.

“We need to maintain our property values to keep the lifestyle we want,” Tolis added.

When voters rejected a primary property tax last year it sent staff back to the drawing board to address the puzzle of an asphalt maintenance program.

The town has tentatively adopted a plan to allow those streets in the worst condition, but not safety hazards, to continue to deteriorate to the point they become a safety concern and then rebuild.

This is the recommendation of a consultant. That position allows the town to use fiscal resources to do maintenance on streets in better condition so they do not continue to degrade.

Staff will be providing the council with a closer look at this approach during a work session scheduled for later this month.

Tolis asked what the costs were to do a complete redo.

“If we allow this to continue the costs will become exponentially higher,” Tolis said. “We need to get ahead of the curve. In five or six years we could be looking at $50 million.”

Staff has suggested that when existing bond issues for the Saguaro Blvd. rebuild, the Community Center and Preserve land purchase are paid off in the next couple of years they may go back to voters with a new paving program for streets that need reconstruction.

Part of the discussion surrounding the property tax proposal last year focused on using bonds for maintenance costs. Staff said it would not do that and left a general impression there were legal restrictions.

Dickey clarified that saying that while bonds can be used for maintenance, they are not tax-free bonds as new construction would be, and the cost for interest is significantly higher. That made it an option the town wanted to avoid.