CAREFREE – During the Jan.3 council meeting Vice Mayor John Crane announced the Foothills Caring Corps was putting on a Health & Resources Expo from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 28 at the Cactus shadows fine Arts Center and invited the community to attend the free event.
With Councilman Mike Farrar absent, council voted unanimously to approve a resolution to update legislative changes to financial disclosures for elected officials.
According to Town Clerk Kandace French, elected officials should be able to fill out the new financial disclosure statement online through the secretary of state’s website. However, she said that portal wasn’t up and running yet and council members would need to fill out the paper form.
Joanne Rebollo of the Carefree Desert Gardens Committee announced the free garden seminars will begin its 15th year on Saturday, Jan. 14.
The monthly seminars, which she said were started by former Mayor Ed Morgan, are held on Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. – noon, January through April and will be hosted by the Speakeasy this year.
Rebollo said the all-volunteer committee is made up of six master gardeners, a horticulturalist and one very interested citizen and the $300 honorarium paid to the speakers is covered by donations.
She said the seminars attract people from all over the Valley and thanked Crane for securing the Speakeasy for this year’s venue.
Rebollo said the Jan. 14 seminar will be all about agaves.
Carefree Marketing Director Gina Kaegi did a presentation detailing the success of this year’s Enchanted Pumpkin Garden event, which she said was rated as one of the top five Halloween events in the state.
Kaegi said the event was put on with the help of over 100 volunteers, driven by their love of the event, and estimated there were over 50,000 attendees this year.
She said they also sold over $15,000 in merchandise.
Kaegi said Ray Villafane, the world-renowned pumpkin carver, sand sculptor and artist, has been working in his studio in Spanish Village and encouraged citizens to stop by to say hello.
Mayor Les Peterson did a presentation to spur discussion about Carefree’s long-term financial plan with a focus on attempting to determine the amount of revenue the town actually realizes from its events as it reviews its 2017 fair and festival strategy.
Peterson noted Carefree is about 30 years old and, with 1,900 households, is approximately 75 percent built out.
The majority of the town’s sales tax revenue comes from few sources – Basha’s, ACE Hardware, Lowe’s and CVS.
As a result, he said Carefree has seen a decline in construction-related activities with a leveling off and decline in state shared revenue.
Since Carefree Station closed a few years ago, Peterson displayed a spreadsheet indicating restaurant revenue has declined by about 50 percent.
Peterson explained how the town has invested over $20 million in infrastructure over the years.
However, looking to the future, he said the town will need to analyze its revenue sources and determine if certain festivals, fairs and events are beneficial to the town and local businesses as well as residents.
It was suggested that council hold a work study session in the near future to discuss the matter in depth.
