inmaricopa.com runs, on a regular basis, opinion pieces submitted by community members. The following article is the opinion of the author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of inmaricopa.com.
On Tuesday, Aug.18, before a handful of steadfast “regulars” as well as several new, young faces, Maricopa’s City Council “spent” a record high for a single meeting. In about 90 minutes council approved expenditures just shy of $20.6 million dollars. They also voted 4 to 3 not to spend another $786,000. Believe it or not, this applies to a total of 6 items!
For as long as I’ve been attending council meetings (about 2 years now), this is the most I’ve ever seen approved in such a short time. Deliberations on the issues, for the most part, were efficient and logical, points for and against were articulately expressed, and in the end votes were decisive. All in all, council took several huge steps toward ensuring our goal of a “prosperous future.” I say this because, in my opinion, it’s not about how much money was spent, but rather what the money was spent on.
· $786,906 was not approved. This was the amount needed to continue operations of the MaricopaXPRESS service. Although this will impact and could inconvenience those who use this service, you can’t argue with the numbers. It’s an expensive service that’s being used by a handful of people. That’s not to say that, in and of itself, this factor alone is reason to terminate the service, but the compelling arguments and “bottom line” cannot be ignored. Considering our overall economic conditions and given what we want to accomplish in the coming year, it was a majority decision not to renew the contract at this time. Discussions certainly left options open to revisit this should indications warrant it.
So what was approved? There were five items, the last of which is a huge step in providing new and very much needed facilities to Maricopa.
· $18,500 for septic tank / leach field renovations for cty hall and the police department. The smallest single expenditure of the night, but totally necessary.
· $71,703 to renew the city’s membership with CAREDF – Central Arizona Regional Economic Development Foundation.
· $20,356 to update an agreement between the City and GPEC – Greater Phoenix Economic Council.
These two items totaled $92,059. That’s a lot of money for what boils down to membership dues, but arguments were made that basically affirmed the old adage, “you gotta spend money to make (or in this case, bring) money.” Brief presentations were made by representatives from both organizations, including assurances that a) this is a wise and necessary move for Maricopa in order to position our city in the fiercely-competitive economic development market; b) the two organizations will complement each other’s efforts to help Maricopa; and c) this investment will include periodic reports and measurable results so Maricopa will see a bang for our buck. For this kind of investment, I want to see tangible results in the form of ground-breaking ceremonies and building permits.
· $587,790 for a two-year IGA (Intergovernmental Agreement) between the city of Maricopa and Pinal County for the purpose of providing law enforcement radio communications dispatch services for our police department. When you consider that there is no permanent Public Safety headquarters yet, trying to purchase and install equipment on our own on a temporary basis is not cost effective. When asked what it might cost for Maricopa to install our own system, the estimate was in excess of $1million plus additional costs of equipment, maintenance, personnel, etc. Also, it was noted that our actual end cost of this IGA is estimated to be around $494,400 (approximately $93,000 lower). The IGA amount covers personnel and overhead costs, and dollar for dollar, it’s a good deal.
· $20 million to begin the development of our recreational facilities and expanded / improved parks. This was the grand finale action of the evening, and it’s been an “on-again/off-again” issue on regular Council agendas in recent months.
Although conservative estimates put having completed facilities about two years out, this a major step for Maricopa. This is the first debt incurred by the city and it also means a secondary property tax for Maricopa residents, which is estimated to hit somewhere around November 2010 and be about $35 / $100,000 in valuation per year over a 30-year period.
I’m sure people have mixed emotions about this, and that for every 10 people in Maricopa, you’d probably get 20 opinions. Nobody welcomes higher taxes, but you can’t argue that the need is great. That point was brought home at Tuesday night’s council meeting during the Call to the Public. Comments were made by several adults, obviously active community volunteers and involved with our youth sports and recreation programs. Perhaps the most poignant though were comments from tomorrow’s voters and taxpayers, all of whom aren’t old enough to get Learner’s Permits. As one child put it, “I think this would be good.” And so do I.
Peggy Chapados is president of The Villages at Rancho El Dorado HOA; chair of the city of Maricopa Public Safety Advisory Committee, coordinator and co-founder of the Maricopa HOA Presidents Council, a member of the US Census 2010 Complete Count Committee and a member of the Maricopa Seniors Board of Directors.
File photo
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