Dear Sedona Times Editor: The City Council wants to nearly double the wasterwater rates in the next four years, because over the years they have mismanaged city funds.  They want to use this indirect tax to steal from Peter to pay Paul.  Just like Ronald Reagan appropriated monies from Social Security to pay for his defense build-up, the Council wants to take the increased revenue from the wasterwater hikes and move them into the general funds.

Instead the Council should take other measures to cut and balance the budget.  The first step should be to eliminate all subsidies to businesses.  Supposedly our American economy is a free market, wherein businesses make it on their own or they don’t.  The laissez-faire approach of Adam Smith.  But business wants it both ways.  Hands-off when it comes to oversight and regulations, but hand-outs when it comes to subsidies and tax breaks.  We are all tired of bailing out banks, insurance agencies and automotive companies, etc.  Needless to say, we the citizens of Sedona should not be subsidizing our local businesses.  We should shop local and support them that way, but not through corporate welfare.  So the Council should eliminate all expenditures that just benefit businesses, e.g., funds for the Chamber of Commerce, the Main St. Program (through which businesses get federal monies anyway), and the Roadrunner service (especially since the Sedona-Cottonwood Lynx now can get tourists from end of town to the other).  They should eliminate the pork-barrel, unnecessary expenditures, e.g., $183,000 renovation of the Posse Ground restrooms, $180,000 planting and maintenance of the median strips and round-abouts, and the proposed $200,000 art works for the round-abouts.  Though I favor supporting artists, if necessary, reduce and cut grants to the arts.  Do what needs to be done to balance the budget.  The priorities that the city should support are those programs and organizations, from which all the citizens of Sedona benefit, e.g., the Sedona Public Library.

Another source of potential savings is to stem the growth of city government.  The city manager and assistant manager should be commended for being proactive in selling off extra city vehicles and reducing staff through attrition.  But those steps don’t go far enough.  If necessary, there should be a further downsizing of staff and/or a reduction in salaries of the top management.  Why was the city manager granted a salary at the top range of his pay scale instead of at the bottom or the middle of that range?  If people want to keep their jobs, they should be willing to accept a reduction in pay.  Times are tough for everybody, but the citizens of Sedona should not have to bear the brunt of and keep enabling the mismanagement of the city’s finances.  No more bail-outs.  Make the tough decisions and balance the books!

Henry Twombly
350 Arroyo Pinon Dr.
Sedona