We're not at all surprised that Explorer editor Dave Perry has come out on behalf of OV keeping the Utility Tax. Since his arrival in town, Mr. Perry seems to always endorse ways for Oro Valley to tax its citizens.
Here's his Feb. 25 editorial titled "Keep A Tax"
Nobody likes paying taxes. But 2009 doesn’t appear to be a good time for local governments to be cutting taxes, with borrowed federal “stimulus” funds about to flow, and traditional sources of local revenue crunched by a struggling economy.
Next week, the Oro Valley Town Council takes up a decision on renewal of the town’s optional 2 percent utility sales tax levied on consumed electricity from Tucson Electric Power, natural gas from Southwest Gas and drinking water from the town of Oro Valley, the city of Tucson and Metropolitan Water.
It’s a $1.5 million, general-fund revenue stream that OV needs as it confronts declining sales tax funds and state assistance. The town council should vote for its extension, we believe.
Oro Valley is one of the few Arizona communities — six among 90, when the tax was first imposed in 2006 — that did not have a utilities tax. Oro Valley doesn’t have utility franchise fees, either, with the exception of cable television. Some communities have both forms of taxation.
Council members are establishing their positions. First-termer Bill Garner, who campaigned with a position that he would not vote for the tax, says he won’t this time. And that’s fine; scrutiny of revenue generation and expenditure is always appropriate.
Oro Valley’s piece of sales tax revenue, estimated to be near $19 million for the current fiscal year, is now expected to be closer to $12.6 million. That’s a big decline, a real “plunge” in this time when the media consider small declines to be “plunges.” Utility tax or not, town government has a painful financial future. Lay-offs — the utility tax supports the equivalent of 18 municipal jobs — and less government service appear inevitable.
A 2 percent utility tax is not a lot of money per capita; less, certainly, than any property tax for operations would generate. While steadfast opposition to a property tax for town operations remains, and in this budget-squeezing time, Oro Valley should not take the utility tax out of the mix.
4 comments:
I'm still waiting for someone from the Town to answer these questions regarding the need to continue the utility tax. We keep hearing about layoffs or job eliminations and services being cut, but no one is offering SPECIFICS.
(1) Specifically what positions are heading for layoffs or eliminations, (2) Specifically what services are about to be cut, and (3) Exactly why did we need to hire more police officers?
If no one can offer SPECIFICS, then I'd say that's a good reason to eliminate the utility tax.
Hi "Cowgirl" and everyone else.
The fact remains that this tax was pushed through, ostensibly to fill 18 1/2 new positions, including 6 new police officers for street patrol.
The tax was to "sunset" on April 1, 2009. What kind of plan was this?
Did Mayor Loomis think he'd have the same 4 council people on board in 2009 to just continue this "folly?"
Well---it didn't happen. Other than Loomis & Kunisch, the other 2 "yes" votes were soundly defeated in their re-election bid, so, it appears the "Loomis Plan" may hit a snag.
How could any rational person believe you could hire new people, paid for with a utility tax, then rescind the tax, but keep the bloated payroll?
The answer is simple. The council should vote (hopefully 5-2) to eliminate this tax, along with a good number of the positions that were "pushed through" without any rational thinking.
We can only hope THIS council shows some fiscal responsibility, especially in these difficult times.
And---please---don't try and tell us the plan was to have the positions subsidized by the OV Marketplace sales tax. That too, was a "pipe dream!"
VC-
Check out the Council packet for Wed. night now posted on the Town's website for answers to your questions.
I looked at the council packet. I had to peruse through more than 100 pages to find that the info I wanted was on pages 103-109. So if anyone else wants to look at this, you can save a lot of time by starting with page 103. The "specifics" still weren't all that clear to me, however. It's somewhat clearer, but not completely.
Post a Comment