I had an email conversation today about the upcoming bond election with a Scottsdale voter, in which she said,
When someone expresses distrust of government and…disdain for any tax hikes…then I wonder where the truth lies…There are physical needs throughout the city that we should not defer too long. The longer we wait the more costly the fix. It is depressing that we can’t move forward towards common goals.
To which I responded:
Unconditional trust is always worse than unconditional distrust.
As Stephen King said,
“The trust of the innocent is the liar’s most useful tool.”
We should all be critical consumers of information, take nothing at face value, and demand explanation from those who seek to take from us in the name of “helping” us.
Regarding her statement:
There are physical needs throughout the city that we should not defer too long.
I agree! So why have we waited THIS long?
For example, the issues with Fire Station 613 (priority rank: 11) have been known for at least 12 years…the entire time I’ve been involved with Scottsdale government. The cost to remedy that one item is only $3.5 million. The city spends more than that every year on the Cultural Council subsidy (a cash payment to a private business for a 20-year, no-bid contract, with no meaningful performance metrics).
The number one priority item (even according to the councils own appointed bond task force), the radio system upgrade, has been under discussion for at least six years. It’s only $5.8 million. Why hasn’t it been done already?
We seem to always have plenty of cash to fund pet projects for the Friends of Jim Lane and members of the Chamber of Commerce. But not for a fire station?
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Scottsdale is scrambling. Today (10-12) I got a robocall from Robbins pushing the bond election. I just paid the first half of my property tax for this year. It was $769 compared to $711 for the same period last year. I can imagine what the bond election would do to it next year.