Once again this present Council under the "leadership" of Mayor Loomis bantered around millions of dollars as if it were nickels & dimes.
Maybe it is just me, but I think anyone who either attended or listened to the audio stream on the Special Session to fund the Naranja Park site must wonder "who on this council, other than KC Carter has any business sense whatsoever."
After nearly three hours this Council voted to direct the staff to work on a final proposal to spend $48 million dollars for what turned out to be "Option #2. This option is scheduled to go to the voters in Nov 2008. If approved, it will be funded by a Bond that will be a secondary property tax.
The vote was 4-3. It is my understanding Loomis & Parish voted "No" as they wanted the full amount of $150 million to go to the voters. KC Carter voted "No'' because he is against any property tax on the citizens.
It appears neither the Council nor the staff could answer Paula Abbott's question as to the status of The Steinway Piano Open-Air Amphitheater scheduled for Steam Pump Village. That might have been a nice piece of information to have before even considering an Amphitheater in this park.
One word of caution: When this expenditure does go to the voters, it behooves everyone to know exactly what they are voting for. You may think you're getting ball fields, only to find that you are getting a "Band Stand."
4 comments:
So are you telling us that Dankwerth, Kunisch, Gillaspie and Abbott voted for this ?
We don't need a property tax to fund ball parks.
What ails these people?
They need to let the citizens know that eventually we will need a property tax to fund essential services.
So this will be on top of that.
Tax Valley is what Oro Valley will look like in 5-10 years.
I attended the meeting on November 5th and discovered that once again your Town Council was not listening. For starters, what has prompted all the rush to build a park? This project was started seven years ago with a group of volunteers tasked to evaluate what residents might want in a park site. Hence, the word WANT as it was pointed out in the meeting that a survey was completed by the residents to ask what they would like to see built at this park. This by no means was a scientific survey and of course all of the special interest groups came out in force to express their desires and wants. I realize that this was an attempt to get the ball rolling, so to speak, as town staff needs a starting point. I am not opposed to this site being utilized as a park, but find that the overall scope of this project has gone from sports fields and nature trails to a glorified "Theme Park", chock full of entertainment such as a performing arts center to a wave pool. Once again it appears our Town Council has rushed to judgement on a park and has decided to let the voters decide on a 48 million dollar park. I ask why did they not consider going through the private bond process to fund this expenditure to avoid the resident's of Oro Valley from having to fund a secondary property tax? One council member at the meeting suggested that we go for the whole project and let the voters decide if they want to fund the park through a property tax. What was this person thinking, as they work for the residents of this Town and are supposed to act with good judgement. Is it good judgement to fund a "Theme Park" when there are other more pressing issues this Town faces in the coming years? We all need to be diligent in reviewing the proposal that will be drafted by staff and eventually presented to the residents. The Town of Oro Valley needs to present solid facts as to why the park needs to have the type of facilities they will propose to us with their $50,000 media campaign. I would want to see current and future projections of the Town's current parks. This would be to include how many times groups are turned down by Parks and Recreation due to lack of space. I would also like to see demographic models projecting future Town growth as it pertains to families and children since they will be the primary users of this facility. These tools will enable the Town to better predict what types of sports and activity fields that are needed. We don't need another fire drill when the park is finally built to suddenly discover it is obsolete and will not serve the future needs of the community. The Town should approach any addition of a bandshell or performing arts center very cautiously as current studies have shown that these projects cost a great deal of money upfront and provide a large deficit when finally opened. If special interest groups want this type of project then they should come up with their own funding through donations and endowments to pay for the initial construction. Why not give the future Steinway Piano outdoor amphitheater a chance to see if this Town is ready for performing arts, before rushing to build facilities that may not be needed? As residents we need to be vigilant in making sure our park makes sense for the future NEEDS of Oro Valley and not fill it with a lot of WANTS that will not serve in our best interest. If the park is approved and built then it should serve this community for many years with the type of facilities the Town really NEEDS!
Was it my imagination that I thought Mayor Loomis stated at the beginning of the meeting that [there would be no voting on this issue tonight] but that the 'hearing' was for presentation of the variables, commentary, etc. for the purpose only of inclusion in further study? As there is no audio yet, I cannot determine whether or not I might be correct. If I am correct, this can only strengthen my belief that to call these hearings 'public hearings' is a farce. A true public hearing would be to listen to comments, discuss their merits, pursue analysis, and so forth. As this seems not to be the case than the 'public hearings' are really public hoopla and nothing else.
I think the question REALLY is: How big of a Oro Valley property tax do you want to START with?
I don't know how long Pima County has been collecting a property tax, but I know of no time in the last 47 years I have lived here has the rate or the assessed valuation gone down. Rather, it has exploded! Like the income tax, this will be collected until the end of time and $48-million is just the beginning.
-Phil Richardson
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