FEBRUARY 9, 2011
Your View
I will be surprised if language in the proposed Cave Creek property tax says proceeds will "only" or "exclusively" be used for fire protection. If the amount collected exceeds the cost of the Rural/Metro contract, the excess will likely be used for anything. Further the tax collected will be nudged upward in future years and citizens told the increase is small, necessary, and for the good of the town.
I just received Carefree Mayor David Charles Schwan's town-paid first-class mail re-election promotion piece, thinly disguised as a "State of Our Town" message. Citizens should know the mayor is hard-working ("I'm in Town Hall by 8 a.m."), town finances are swell ("a solid and very favorable financial condition"), everyone's nose is to the grindstone ("dedication and hard work of staff"), and wants everyone to enjoy paying the highest sales tax rate in Maricopa County ("buy local and support Carefree merchants"). Why didn't he save the town cash and stuff his self-serving political puffery in with a water bill? Didn't he want to associate himself with the town's astronomical water rates?
In his "State of Our Town" letter the mayor of Carefree omitted some key information: businesses continuing to flee the town center; enormous vacancy rate in commercial rental property; a bloated and overpaid town staff; declining sales tax revenues; one goofy council-approved project after another; very high water rates and town sales tax rate; and members of council refusing to run for re-election after they find out they are mere puppets and what a mess the town is in.
The town of Cave Creek is about to confront the slippery slope of another property tax. The Spur Cross tax was supposed to be the one and only property tax. Now local politicians have established enormous infrastructure costs and have no other way to pay for them except by property taxes. The "fire protection" tax is just the second in an upward spiral of property taxes, sure to have a negative impact on property values.
In the 2009 Carefree primary election David Schwan came in last (569 votes) and was 231 votes behind the candidate with the most votes (800). Yet Schwan became mayor. How will he do in 2011 when his pals cannot name him mayor?
All the citizens of Cave Creek who are freeloading off of their neighbors (including our mayor) can rest easy. They aren’t paying for fire protection and emergency medical services now and don’t want to pay in the future. They like to sit back and let their neighbors pay the bill. Thanks to our council they can continue to do just that – at least until the system crashes.
The January 4, 2011 "action minutes" of the Carefree Water Co. board of directors meeting concludes, "Some customers were unreasonable." Attention annoying customers: shut up, pay your bills, don't bother calling, and be sure to reelect Schwan as head of the water operation. How dare you complain!
Love the profusion of new Town signs. They should read "Welcome to Clown Town." Then, we could have Mayor Schwan (wearing his Truman Capote hat) acting as ringmaster.
A vote for mayoral candidate Stavoe is a vote for Councilman Coady who, according to rumors, plans to run as a May general election write-in if Stavoe wins.
I learned an interesting distinction at Town Hall today regarding Rural Metro. If I do not have coverage and require EMS I will be billed for their services not covered by my health insurance. However, if I do have coverage I will be billed for their services not covered by my health insurance. Say whut, now?
Rural Metro has not a clue as to the percentage of subscribers in Cave Creek. You can get any number you want from them. It doesn’t matter much anyway because whether the number of freeloaders in Cave Creek is 40 or 60 percent, the majority of the Town Council (Trenk, Mozilo, Esser, Bunch) think the system is just fine and don’t want anyone to change it.
Cave Creek witnessed government at its worst in the council meeting of January 31. That is to say, Barack Obama would have been proud of Esser, Trenk, Mozilo and Bunch – all of whom profess to know what is best for the residents of Cave Creek to the extent that they denied the opportunity for those residents to act in their own behalf. Those four clowns didn’t understand the issues and therefore decided the stupid residents didn’t either and must be saved from themselves. Trenk and Mozilo are lame ducks and won’t be around to clean up the mess – get rid of Esser and Bunch.
Pretending that an economic recovery has begun and hopeful of winning votes from citizens with visiting grandchildren ages 6-12, Carefree's mayor just convinced the town council to spend $37,000 for playground equipment mostly duplicating the existing kiddie slide.
