Maricopa City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to sell $20 million worth of bonds that would be used to fund the development of sports and recreational facilities. “Construction costs are great right now and we have an opportunity to get a better deal for the taxpayer,” said Maricopa Mayor Anthony Smith. “We have to have the guts to do this today.” The $20 million, part of a $65 million total bond package, would help fund a 36-acre sports complex and recreation center. The sporting complex would include baseball, soccer and football fields, while the recreation/aquatic center would be a minimum 50,000 square foot facility and cost approximately $16.5 million. “This $20 million gives us the flexibility to do either of these projects, or a combination of both,” Smith said. However, Smith added the council has not decided the specifics on the projects or how to staff them. The Greater Arizona Development Authority will sell the bonds on behalf of the city the first week of December, with the package hitting the property-tax rolls in 2010. A home with an assessed valuation of $100,000 would show a property tax increase of an average of $45 each year over the 10-year lifespan of the bond. The council passed the measure with an emergency clause, meaning that the measure was requited from two opportunities for public comment, and the standard 30-day timeline for public challenge was waved. The reasoning behind the emergency clause was to ensure the city was able to get their bonds sold in the first week of December. “Virtually all (municipal) financing in Arizona is done pursuant to an emergency clause,” said the city’s financial advisor Greg Schwartz. GADA is scheduled to sell these bonds in December, which means they will start marketing in two weeks. If the measure had not passed, the next opportunity for selling the bonds would not have been until January, Schwartz added. Councilman Carl Diedrich initially expressed concern with passing the measure with the emergency clause, but removed this objection when he heard it was standard in other cities. “Our city code says only measures dealing with peace, health and safety of the city can be passed using an emergency clause; if our code does not match that of other cities, we need to change it,” Diedrich said. In addition to the passing of the bond package, the city tabled a measure that would have granted $60,000 in funding to the Maricopa/Ak-Chin Community Alliance Against Substance Abuse to provide youth programs in the community. Councilman Edward Farrell understands there’s a need for more youth services. “It kills me we have $200,000 in our budget for youth service we haven’t done anything with, but we haven’t received a staff report on this measure and need to see the details before we hand over this money,” Farrell said. Several members of council said they would volunteer to meet with the city manager and members from the alliance group this week to gather more information. The measure could possibly return to council in December. Photo by Michael K. Rich |