Northwest

Pro: A wise investment

Your Oro Valley Town Council has recently approved three economic development agreements that will bring significant commercial investment to this community. With this investment will come a variety of shopping, dining and entertainment opportunities that you have said you need and want now - not later. As your chief of police for 17 years and now a Town Council member and vice mayor, I have had the privilege of serving you for many years. I am intimately familiar with the town, its financial position and the need to bring revenue to this community. Without a continuing source of revenue, we will be looking to cut services such as the police, parks and library. Or we will have to look elsewhere for funds - namely, a property tax. I have stated publicly that once my current term expires, I would be the first to lead a charge against a property tax, should one ever be proposed. I would also lead a recall drive against any council member who would propose to place such a tax on the ballot. Right now, some Oro Valley residents are circulating referendum petitions to attempt to overturn the decisions of the Town Council to enter into these economic development agreements. While these residents may call themselves "Stop O.V. Outrageous Giveaways," a more proper name would be "Ensure That Everyone Starts Paying a Property Tax." That is because without these economic development agreements, our reserve funds are projected to dry up in three years There are no "giveaways" for anyone. Very simply, there is no revenue coming in now from empty commercial property. The agreements limit the amount of sales tax sharing to 10 years, after which the town will reap the benefit of 100 percent of all of the sales taxes. Do not be fooled by the petition carriers. They are doing you and your neighbors a disservice and will force the town to spend at least $50,000 to hold a special election if they get the required number of signatures (640). It is time for this community to move forward. New commercial development will attract shoppers from outside Oro Valley who will leave their sales tax dollars here. Otherwise, the developers and their tenants will simply choose to locate somewhere else, and we will be staring a property tax squarely in the face. While we have received both outside and inside legal opinions that the Town Council's economic development decisions are not subject to referendum, it is still important that you send a message to the carriers of the petitions by saying, "No, thank you." Tell them that via these agreements, the town is actually gaining nearly $10 billion worth of sales over the next 20 years. Tell them you want to end the negativity and stop the lies. Tell them you don't want a property tax.