The Capital improvement 1/2 cent sales tax was done away with in the 1990′s which led us with depleted revenues to address new police and fire stations, road improvements, and stormwater infrastructure. And like many cost reduction moves, the damage and repercussions are only evident when looking back over several years of perspective.

My predecessors, in 2002, saw this coming and proposed some tax changes but only the Public Safety Sales Tax passed. And yes we also have TOPS and the RTA, but those stovepipe revenues don’t give us a lot of flexibility in dealing with the broader City issues. And it also confuses many of our citizens. I can’t tell you how many people have questioned me why we bought Corral Bluffs open space for a million bucks when we have more pressing needs in the City. When I try to explain that we are spending TOPS money on what the voters told us to spend it on, we get told (and I quote) “If you guys had any brains, you’d figure out how to spend that TOPS money on Police and Fire”. So much for following the voters wishes.

All that being said, Mr. Hazlehurst is correct in his assessment of our ability to provide services cheaply and effectively. But our ability to continue to do “more with less” has probably run its course.

Scott Hente
City Councilmember