For those of you who are new to the LOVE blog, the Community Center Fund (CCF) is the fund that was set up to collect the revenues (including the dedicated half cent sales tax increase), and pay for all the Community Center expenses, including capital improvements.
As of October 31, 2018, the CCF is $460,575 in the red. This is what former mayor Hiremath and his sycophants call “breaking even.”
First four months of the fiscal year (July 1 – October 31)
Since July 1st, The Overlook Restaurant has lost $46,901. For comparison, the entire Community Center has lost only $15,903 since July 1st. The Overlook lost $13,355 in October alone.
• As of October 2017, Troon’s revenues were $924,875.
• As of October 2018, Troon’s revenues were $831,954. ($92,921 less than prior year)
• The good news is that Troon’s expenditures were $134,247 less in October 2018 compared to October 2017 and our sales tax revenues were $34,559 more.
Since the purchase of the Community Center and Golf Courses in May 2015:
• FY 2014/15, Troon lost - $612,094
• FY 2015/16, Troon lost - $2,567,385
• FY 2016/17, Troon lost - $2,512,938
• FY 2017/18, Troon lost - $1,993,040
• So far in FY 2018/19, Troon has lost - $936,196
TOTAL LOSS OF $8,621,653.
The total of your sales tax revenues dedicated to this ill-conceived plan are $7,783,147, plus $1,550,500 that the Hiremath council transferred from the General Fund to assist in paying for this disaster. Just think of the parks and other citizen benefits we could have had with the combined monies of the General fund donation and the sales tax revenues ($9,333,647). Instead this all went to make Humberto Lopez (HSL Properties) happy at your expense.
Where do we go from here?
The Town Manager has already stated that she desires to continue with 36 holes of golf, completely disregarding the recommendations of the $50,000 golf study. Apparently, the Town Manager will not be the person to lead us out of this quagmire.
Oro Valley voters recently elected a new Mayor and three Councilmembers. Although I will continue to document this debacle, the new council majority completely understands the Town’s need to correct this problem and we should allow them some time to formulate a game plan to at least minimize the losses until a permanent solution can be found. I do not expect to see any massive changes in the immediate future, but I do expect to see some positive changes.
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Mike Zinkin has a Bachelor’s degree in history and government from the University of Arizona and a Master’s degree in Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education from California State University, Northridge. He was a commissioned ensign in the United States Navy Reserve. He was an Air Traffic Controller for 30 years. He and his wife moved to Oro Valley in 1998. Mike served on the Oro Valley Development Review Board from 2005-2009 and the Board of Adjustment from 2011-2012. He served on the Town Council from 2012-2016 during which time he was named a Fellow for the National League of Cities University, he was a member of the National League of Cities Steering Committee for Community and Economic Development, and a member of the Arizona League of Cities Budget and Economic Development Committee.
