Three Oro Valley Residents Speak Out Against "Contributions"

Three OV residents took the time to write The Explorer on the same issue: Giving OUR money to outside agencies.

For the record, as we previously noted on the blog, you can't "paint the whole council with the same brush." Bill Garner, Barry Gillaspie & Salette Latas opposed the motion to give C-Path $25K & TREO an additional $16K for a total of $40K.

Here are the 3 letters from the May 27 Explorer.
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Let the drug firms fund Critical Path

Re: Critical Path Institute:

I do not see the need for the taxpayers to fund this organization. As I understand it, their purpose is to aid the pharmaceutical industry in bringing drugs to market. This industry is among the most profitable and can afford to fund this organization with their obscene profits.

The taxpayers of Oro Valley should be funding organizations that provide assistance to those in need. The pharmaceutical industry does not qualify under any criteria.

Chuck Davis, Oro Valley
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No OV money for outside agencies

I do not think that Oro Valley taxpayer's money should be used for outside agencies.

Robert Gershon, Oro Valley
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No more taxes; OV government must cut its size

Oro Valley City Council recently voted to give more money to Critical Path Institute and TREO. It seems that the council cares more about subsidizing businesses than keeping residents.

The council is considering several new taxes on Wednesday, May 27. Among them are increased property taxes, increased retail sales tax, a grocery tax, an increase in utility taxes and a new franchise fee (tax) for our utilities.

We can't stand any more taxes. Many people are struggling to stay in their homes. Increasing our mortgage payments by adding more property tax is not going to help the residents of Oro Valley.

We are all going to see an increase in our utility bills once the cap and trade tax is passed by our federal government. It would be poor planning to increase those bills on a local level as well.

Raising our retail sales tax would put us in the same league with The City of South Tucson. Taxing our groceries is outrageous. Let's learn a lesson from California and cut the size of our city government instead of letting it grow out of control with increased taxes.

We need to start using common sense. We are not going to stimulate our local economy by digging deeper into the pockets of our residents.

Angela Puffer, Oro Valley