There has been a great deal of discussion comparing the proposed Carefree Park and Scottsdale’s new Ashler Hills Park. Most of this discussion has centered on the differing visions of how a park in the Sonoran Desert should appear.
It was mentioned in a 4/16 letter to the Sonoran News, from the promoter of Carefree Park, that 89% of the residents who responded to calls for comments on the upcoming general plan revision stated they want to preserve more open space. For perspective, there were just over 350 responses submitted. During the last election there were over 2,000 ballots cast and the Town has a population of approximately 3,800 people. It is reasonable to expect that most residents want more open space. The question is how many are willing to pay for it?
A major difference between the Ashler Hills park actually being built and the hoped-for Carefree Park, is that the citizens of Scottsdale stepped up and passed a bond backed with secondary property taxes to pay for their new park. Carefree Park is relying on private donations and hope of some future Town support out of existing sales tax revenues. Revenues currently funding public safety, fire and emergency services and roads. Existing costs that are increasing each year. One would think the Carefree Park strategy would necessitate the need for additional sales tax revenues. We have seen that Carefree citizens are unwilling to support a property tax. The defeat of the Fire tax by 80% of the voters during a May 2023 special election made that perfectly clear. Where will the Town get the money for expenses relating to Carefree Park?
During the recent Council meeting where the General Plan update was discussed, supporters of Carefree Park attempted to insert language that would potentially commit the town to provide funding for acquisition and maintenance of park and open space, by creating a line item in the budget, with no identified revenue source. This is in spite of their repeated claims that the park will be privately funded. At the same time, they successfully lobbied to remove the Special Planning Area designation for the 20 acres on the NW corner of Tom Darlington and Carefree Hwy. This parcel was designated for a casita style resort with preliminary work under way be the owner. The result is the elimination of a future revenue source for the town.
It appears a vocal minority of citizens are trying to commit the town to new, unfunded costs for a park they want, while at the same time eliminating the last remaining parcels that could generate new revenue.
It is hard to understand how the math will work. The Town cannot print money.
Tony Geiger
Carefree
