Oro Valley Residents Speak Out

Some OV neighbors speak out about Oro Valley issues

Below is a message "LOVE" received from Edward Cooke. Below that is a letter to The Explorer fom Christopher Fox
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I am with you!!!The OV town council have their own agenda of wants
& needs, (ie; $160M park, more police officers, new city hall) The council
kept pushing the utility tax until they got it passed. We all have wants,
but we have to save for the the things we want. Not the OV council. They
say, "tax the people."
I say dump the mayor & council and install people who will provide solid
fiscal responsibility
"NO MORE TAXES"
Edward Cooke
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Letters to the editor for March 18 - ExplorerNews
April 18, 2007

Golder Ranch annexation warrants newspaper's'in-depth' analysis

I've been extremely frustrated since being involuntarily annexed by Golder
Ranch, and have been waiting for our version of Mary Schuh to come to my rescue.
Alas, to no avail.I may have to assume her role here in Oro Valley myself.
One thing that would help tremendously, though, would be for the EXPLORER to do
an in-depth, multi-issue analysis of the financials of the Golder Ranch/Rural
Metro deal.

Prior to being annexed, I was fine with paying the $230 a year or so for the
additional insurance for basic fire protection.I was fully aware that Rural
Metro would bill me or my insurance company if I were in need of their medical
services.

Now, however, I am paying a 74 percent premium for Golder Ranch's basic fire
protection, as they as well will bill either myself or my insurance company if I
need use of their medical services.They magnanimously will cover any losses if
insurance is not available (am I subsidizing the uninsured?)I don't know if
Rural Metro was as magnanimous, but being a corporate endeavor, I would suspect not.
What is interesting is that if you take a conservative estimate of the 2004-05
budget of $7,000,000 (2005-06 was 8.3) and cut it in half, you get a per
household fire cost of $700,000 (five fires at $700,000 each.)

I would be curious to know what percentage of income Golder Ranch receives from
homeowners versus commercial property owners, etc.
If it turns out that homeowners are subsidizing everyone else, then adrastic
adjustment of Golder Ranch's business model is in long overdue order.
If the town council, which is pushing for Golder Ranch as the sole provider in
Oro Valley, is unaware of possibly skewed numbers in that fire district's
financials, then it is either incompetent or lazy.

If they are aware of any funny business going on, then they should be
investigated for corruption.

Christopher Fox,
Oro Valley