Vice Mayor Mary Snider & Council Member Lou Waters saw fit to respond in this week's Explorer to the letter last week written by Mike Zinkin, and posted on our blog,
They end their letter by writing----and I quote: "--judge us by what we do, not by what others say we’re doing."
That sounds fair to us. So we'll judge them by the fact that they saw fit to do the following:
1) On the upcoming May 4 council agenda: Add an increase to the Utility Tax that was initially scheduled for ONLY one year, and now these two are pushing for it, only at a higher percentage rate. Keep in mind, it was initially imposed for one year so more cops (that we didn't need)could work for Oro Valley. (Let's see how they vote)
2) On the upcoming June 1 council agenda: Add a 1/4% sales tax to our 2% tax that Oro Valley imposes. Let's see if these two feel it is smart business sense to increase a sales tax when shoppers can easily travel to the Foothills Mall and avoid the OV tax.
Let's not forget that three of our shopping centers, including the "infamous" Oro Valley Marketplace keep approx 1/2 of OUR sales tax revenue.
3) They have been outspoken about giving the OV police raises to the tune of $200,000,
while at the same time, are seemingly happy to tax the "heck" out of the citizens. (Will they vote "yes" for this and other employee raises & bonuses?)
4) Let's not forget that Snider & Waters voted to "kill" the Police Management Study. Why? Not because they wanted to save money. They were afraid an outside consulting firm would tell us we have more police than we need and more police than we can afford. Safety is not the issue. The issue is their "love affair" with the police. (We "judged you" on that action, and you were "judged guilty."
There's plenty more, but we'll judge them on their own words---at least until we see different actions.
Don't hold your breath on that!
Here's their letter to the Explorer. Judge for yourself who & what to believe. (Below it is another letter by Chuck Davis on the budget)
http://explorernews.com/voices/article_62970dca-5a3d-11e0-9b87-001cc4c002e0.html
5 comments:
Having watched and/or attended most Town Council meetings, since the election, I AM (and have been) judging Snider and Waters on what they are doing. They, and other new members of the Council, are doing NOTHING for the citizens/residents of our Town.
At the March 23rd Special Session, the mayor mentioned misinformation appearing in articles. Now Snider and Waters mention the misinformation in Mike Zinken’s article. Why be so vague? Why not tell us what the specific misinformation is?
Mike’s article definitely upset the majority of this council’s members. I think THESE COUNCIL MEMBERS ARE PROTESTING TOO MUCH!
Show up at the scheduled TC meetings with brooms.
(call it the "clean sweep" party)
If the broom does not work, there is always the pitch fork!!
Art, don't forget the A-Frames
Zee-- I didn't forget the signs. How could you when they're all over the place.
More important -- I didn't forget that the four recently elected; Snider, Waters, Hiremath & Hornat had a wealth of candidates to choose from to fill a council vacancy.
After watching the last Study Session, it is obvious one reason why they choose Steve Solomon, the developer.
He literally ran the damn meeting. All the mayor had was the gavel.
What a disgrace watching the way Solomon "leads the charge" in worrying about the cops, the builders and the business community while not giving a damn about the people.
I didn't forget. Hopefully, thousands of our fellow citizens won't forget either.
There has been a significant amount of discussion on the projected budget deficit of 3 million or 2.6 million dollars in the general fund of Oro Valley and how the council and citizens might be able to close the deficit with increased taxes or additional budget cuts.
At the March 23, 2011 Budget Session, Craig Civalier, our Town Engineer, said he needed 1.2 million/year to take care of the TOV roads.
This is nothing new!
Please refer to the February 26, 2007 minutes of the TOV Finance and Bond Committee that helped on the TOV Budget that year. Mr. Civalier, Town Engineer, and Phil Trenary, Public Works Operations Division Manager, appeared before the committee to discuss Pavement Management.
Pavement Management is the strategy on how to maintain Oro Valley streets (surface treatments). Level 3 would be the cheapest option overall but we would need about $14 Million-15 Million in order to get to that point.
Member Lamm (Finance and Bond Committee) asked what it would take to maintain a level 3 status (if it would be achieved). Mr. Civalier stated that the budget should have $1.2 Million for surface treatments and that should be the target for each year. (Sound like a familiar figure!) Craig stated they were currently at least $1 million short of that amount each year.
Mr. Lamm then asked about borrowing $15 Million over a period of years to get the roadways up to a point where we could maintain them. Mr. Civalier indicated it would help if we could spend about $3.8 Million for about 7-8 years.
The Oro Valley roads are vital to our residents, tourists, visitors, and economic development.
Councilman Joe Hornat pointed out at the March 23 budget session that we can make budget cuts or increase taxes to balance the general fund, however, the Council or staff has not fully determined how the town will find 1.2 million in the highway fund for maintaining those roads.
I suppose Vice Mayor Mary Snider and Councilman Lou Waters might accuse me of spreading more inaccuracies and mis-information in this posting.
John Musolf
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