Sedona AZ (February 23, 2010) – In a letter to SedonaEye.com editors, Sedona Chapel area resident, Lin Ennis, discusses her position on proposed sewer fees:

Dear Council Members,

I am concerned about there being a dramatic increase in sewer fees over the next few years – double to triple the fees in comparable communities. However, I also realize our Wastewater Enterprise Fund is drastically short-funded, and could be depleted by October 2013.

May I make a few suggestions?

· Since only 44% of the city’s budget is funded by sales tax, and since residents also pay sales taxes when shopping in Sedona (except for groceries), would it be possible for you to quit consistently saying “This is a tourist-based economy”? Yes, the lion’s share of income comes from sales tax, much of it presumably paid by tourists. But not the majority. The majority of income comes from many smaller bits.

Have you considered how disenfranchising it is to the residents to ride this “tourism-only” horse to death? Citizens are the ones who are friendly with tourists, pick up their trash, tell them how to have a good time, invite them back, and pay sales tax on routine purchases 365 days a years (not just for a week)…

Citizens are the ones who pay the taxes that return to the City as revenue sharing from larger governmental entities.

Citizens are the ones stuck with both good and bad decisions current and prior city councils have made.

Please begin using terms like citizens, residents, population, locals, etc. in your monologues.

· Since presumably it is your responsibility (or the City manager’s?) that the monthly sewer service fee has not been increased in 12 years, what could you do to make it your responsibility to mitigate the necessity to march rate hikes double- or triple-time in the next decade? (To a level that could prove a hardship on some residents, but still won’t fully-fund the WEF.)

· It is essential that homes without water-service not be charged sewer fees.

· It is imperative that properties with dramatically varied populations not be charged the same flat rates. Scales must be developed, that while not perfect, correspond better with the use of the property and the toll on the sewer.

· Fines for non-connection must be reconsidered. If the non-cooperative homeowner is in an ADEQ mandated central sewer service collection area, non-connection is not an option. Either the waterways are at risk, or they aren’t. Period.

· If they areen’t–if the non-connecting homes are in non-ADEQ-mandated areas, the city’s precipitous decision to expend funds to sewer the non-mandated areas should not be construed as carte blanche to declare mandates, nor to penalize, propose outrageous fines, or threaten with jail time, those homeowners using a more measured and ecologically prudent approach to waste disposal.

Barring scientific evidence to the contrary, the Council must allow homeowners to connect their systems to the city’s centralized system at will. Statistics have shown that neither connection fees nor monthly sewer fees will stave off the WEF’s bankruptcy. Therefore, there is no logic in causing residential hardships for both environmental and fiscal black holes.

It should not be your position, at the suggestion of counsel, to treat residents in non-mandated areas the same as residents in mandated areas. The situations are dissimilar; therefore, the declarations and votes may be dissimilar.

I regret that my business obligations currently keep me away from Mon-Tuesday City Council meetings. I miss your smiling faces and often intelligent debate. Please consider my remarks with the same weight you would give them were I able to invest five hours in attending your meeting.

Most sincerely,

For the best Sedona Arizona News and Views? Subscribe to www.SedonaEye.com today.