Bill Garner Sets The Record Straight. Mayor Loomis is WRONG!

Below is an email we received from Oro Valley resident Bill Garner.

But, before you read Bill's message, click here listen to the audio archive of Wednesday's Town Council Meeting in relation to the new water fees. Select the archive audio of the June 20 meeting. Then, select Public Hearing-Item 3,Ordinance No, (O) 07-32 from the jump menu. You can listen to a 38 minute clip of the meeting on this subject or simply use the "slide bar" to advance audio to listen to Art Segal, followed by Bill Garner, and further on, Mayor Loomis.

You can hear what was said. It's on the record.

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Dear Oro Valley Residents:

I recently had the pleasure to attend the Town Council meeting on the evening of June 20, 2007 to hear the latest giveaway by our Town Council in regards to a five tiered approach to the rates for water meters for new development. Although this was disturbing to say the least , I would like to point out an interesting item that came up as part of the discussion during the Public Hearing portion of this Resolution. Mr. Art Segal was speaking in regards to his opposition to this Resolution when he made the following comment (not verbatim) "Is somebody not going to buy a house if a builder adds another 5000 bucks to a five hundred thousand dollar house? We're not talking about a $20,000 dollar house going up $5,000. We're talking about a 1% increase for a majority of the new homes." I found Mr. Segal's comment as a way to characterize or summarize that there will be very little impact on the home buyer's decision to purchase due to a water meter rate increase. As the meeting progressed Mayor Paul Loomis saw fit exercise is mayoral duties and explain to all of us in attendance that Mr. Segal was incorrect in his comments about the cost of housing in Oro Valley. I quote the mayor's comments "No matter what Mr. Segal says, the average price of a house is not a half a million dollars. The average price of a house in Oro Valley is around two hundred twenty five thousand dollars. That is what they are selling for today".Wow! Does our Mayor live in the Town of Oro Valley? Of course he does, but once again our mayor has really shot from the hip on this one! After spending a total of 15 minutes on the World Wide Web I was able to obtain the correct average home price for the Town of Oro Valley. Here are the results of that search:http://www.city-data.com/city/Oro-Valley-Arizona.html 2005 Estimated Median Home Price of $259,100http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Oro_Valley-Arizona/ Dec 06 to Feb 07Estimated Median home Price of $340,000 http://www.orovalleyhomes4sale.com/ May 2007 Estimated Median home Price of $340,820Mayor Loomis was clearly off the mark by over $110,000 and should get his facts straight prior to commenting in a public meeting.In closing the point to be made with this analysis is the next time you hear one of our elected Town Officials make a statement, don't always believe what you hear!

Bill Garner

Az Star Reports On Water-Connection Fees

This is a follow-up to our posting of June 20, "Oro Valley Council Votes For Watered Down Water Hike." Its the artcle reporting the results of the meeting from the Arizona Daily Star. Click here to read it.