Sedona AZ (October 14, 2012) – In a letter to the SedonaEye.com editor, Sedona Arizona taxpayer Henry Twombly takes issue with the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors tax rate increases and an education ballot initiative:
Twombly writes...Did you know that our tax rates rose significantly for next year: 15% on property; 16% for the Sedona Fire District; and 28% for the Sedona-Oak Creek School (SOCSD) – not to mention a variety of county tax increases ranging from 14-20%?
The County Board just rubber stamped all the tax hikes requested by these entities. (You may have missed this news because the Sedona Red Rock News placed the article in the back of the second section on the Friday before Labor Day. A seemingly deliberate decision to hide what should have been front page news.)
So I’m not too happy about the School District placing a Budget Override on the ballot to tax us another 15% on top of the 28% increase, especially since it won’t improve the quality of education. They used this ploy in 2007 to pass the $73 million bond for capital projects.
Among other boondoggles, that bonanza for construction companies created an unnecessary second auditorium with 750 seats for only 500 students. None of that money went towards books or teachers’ salaries; and none of this override money will either. It’s to pay for the maintenance and operations budget.
If the budget override doesn’t pass, SOCSD claims it will have to reduce its budget by $750,000, even though – according to the ballot information- the override increase would only provide $431,891 in revenues. So why mislead us with the numbers?
Though SOCSD paints a dire yet questionable picture of an override defeat, I think such a defeat would force the SOCSD to be more fiscally responsible and have a minimal effect on the quality of education.
Alas, my fellow taxpayers, we have a choice. If we want more taxes, vote Yes. If we want less taxes, vote No on the budget override. Either way it won’t affect the quality of education; it will only affect our pocketbooks.
Henry Twombly Sedona, AZ
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For the record, both the Sedona Oak Creek School and Sedona Fire Districts encompass a portion of Coconino County and not just Yavapai County as indicated by Henry Twombly’s letter.
Those of use residing in Sedona, Coconino County, receive our property tax assessments and bills from that county and not Yavapai. Therefore, although all of us living within the referenced school and fire districts will pay for over-ride increases, other property tax components are derived by and from the county in which we reside.
You haven’t seen anything yet, just wait until the new fire board gets rolling. The trouble with school budgets is even if we increased their budget 10 percent for a permanent budget next year they would want an over ride.
Did your income go up by 14-20% ? Social Security was only raised 1.7 %, they will tax and spend you to death if you let them!
Remember this when you vote.