Example(s): Pedestrian crossing @ Tlaquepaque, constant rezoning to accommodate high density development such as current proposal for Schnebly Hill Road, over-funding to an amateur chamber of commerce for unwarranted advertising resulting in day trippers and backed-up traffic, expanding questionable services requiring renting office space on Brewer Rd. In if they decide to purchase and rezone the Cultural Park property won’t that be a WHOPPER?

Just a few examples of nonsense wasted dollars from control freaks with access to public money they just love to spend on questionable endeavors. And who knows how much is allotted to staff etc. for personal expenses such as meals, automobile, medical insurance, and who knows what else?

But perhaps the biggest of all “yesteryears” news is the questionable decision for Sedona to become an incorporated City in the first place. Icing on the cake laced with venom from rattlesnakes?

And BTW in case you didn’t know, the fire department is a DISTRICT and not a department of the City of Sedona. However wouldn’t it be a wise idea if city planners took fire hydrants into consideration and made recommendations to the Sedona Oak-Creek Fire District when approving so many high density developments?

Tourists, residents be extra careful. Natural events do not offer rehearsals prior to an opening performance – and maybe – the final show!

The above report in particular revives vivid memories of what can happen in the blink of an eye. With current prevailing winds and extremely dry weather fire danger remains at an all time high.

Thank you for availability of the reminder relating to neighborhood cooperation and a memorable group activity which with little or no doubt made a huge difference in what could have been a devastating outcome. Our collective effort to provide that much needed fire hydrant was, indeed, a blessing in disguise.

Never – EVER – take anything for granted. One never knows what tomorrow holds.

Sincerely,
Eddie S. Maddock

(Keep in mind that “The Ridge and Bell Rock Inn are not in Sedona City Limits.” Also for clarity, Sedona City Limits are approximately defined as going west, the high school, going north, Midgley Bridge, and going south just past Back O’Beyond. Eastern boundary is defined by USFS land.)

When posed the question “In lieu of bed taxes, do timeshares pay a comparable form of revenue to the city?” here is what she had to say. “First, yes, some of the timeshare units pay fees in-lieu of taxes. The intent of the ‘in-lieu fee’ was to recapture the amount of bed tax we could have collected if the timeshare in fact were required to pay a bed tax.”

Continuing, Ms. Zelms said, “I can’t say it is exactly comparable to what would be paid if the development were paying bed-tax, although depending on how the timeshare is sold – fractional property ownership or sale of ‘time’ – it is questionable as to what, if any local authority we would have to impose a Transaction Privilege Tax (sales or bed). I can say that in some cases we collect as much as $400,000 a year in ‘fees in-lieu of taxes’ from one development – a large portion of that is based on a significant increase in the formula for the later phases of development that just took effect two years ago. Several of these agreements created Community Facility Districts (CFD’s) with specific parameters for the use of funds and other fees to be used for general operations of the city.”

Ms. Zelms was emphatic that the dollar figures she provided be recognized as general numbers not to exact amounts. Detailed dollar specifics obviously would require more time consuming research.

“The reason that some units do pay an in-lieu fee and some don’t is that the fees were created as part of development agreements when new development was approved through P & Z and Council. Each development agreement is slightly different and fees/formula charged for various phases, etc. of development are different – either charged as ‘in-lieu’ or annual assessment. They are based on aspects such as: size of units, fractional time sold, annual fee for timeshares sold/available, etc.”

In particular it’s been difficult to understand why not all development agreements didn’t include in-lieu of bed tax requirements. Ms. Zelms explained as follows:

“We don’t have development agreements or an in-lieu fee requirement for most of the units at Los Abrigados and all of the units at the Hyatt. There are two reasons for this. For Los Abrigados, this resort was approved and constructed in 1985-86 prior to Sedona’s incorporation. Los Abrigados has added a handful of units (I believe 10) after incorporation and we do have a development agreement on these units and these handful of units pay an in-lieu fee. For the Hyatt, it was approved at a time when lodging was a permitted use in the C-1 (General Commercial) zoning district and the Hyatt did not require a rezoning, so we had no leverage. When a rezoning is required, that gives the city the leverage to negotiate an in-lieu fee. In 1998, the City of Sedona removed lodging as a permitted use in the C-1 and C-2 commercial zoning districts and created an L (Lodging) zoning district that required a rezoning for all new lodging facilities. By doing so, this allowed the city to negotiate an in-lieu fee and development agreement during the rezoning process. So, since 1998, all new timeshare projects have paid an in-lieu fee.”

It might be of interest to note that the original intent of Los Abrigados was to function and operate as a “resort hotel” but then, at a later date, converted to timeshare sales.

Again quoting Ms Zelms, “Of the total number of 798 timeshares units in Sedona, 336 were approved/developed with associated development agreements that assess in-lieu fees. The city collects, on average, about $550,000 a year from these units as non-sales tax in-lieu fees. We don’t break out all the rental nights that are paid as a sales/bed-tax, as that is collected separately as part of the overall sales tax.”

“Also of the 798 total timeshare units, 462 were approved/developed prior to the current development agreement in-lieu fees. There is no in-lieu being captured although, like above, these units are required to collect a bed tax when a room is rented on a nightly basis. This occurs less than 20% of the time at best due to most business being timeshare related. Again I don’t have a breakout of what is paid as far as bed tax,” so states Ms. Zelms.

When asked if it’s possible for the city to track and collect bed taxes in those cases of timeshares being used as short-term rentals, Ms. Zelms’ response was: “As far as tracking of sales tax reported is concerned, the city could track some bed tax reporting through TPT reports internally, but it wouldn’t show a number of nights rented, just total sales tax collections by business reporting. Also much of the specific TPT information by business is confidential, and bed tax payment vs. the regular local sales tax payments are regularly reported incorrectly (reported in the wrong category). This misreporting is part of why the city is looking at options to self collect, through a contracted third party rather than hiring staff, so that we have specific, clean data to use,”

In conclusion, Ms. Zelms added: “The restaurant and retail locations within each timeshare do pay the local tax for their sales.”

Unfortunately the negative is and remains the city’s mission to serve the best interest of the “regional” Chamber of Commerce and their dues-paying members. (City Council? Didn’t read? Don’t care?)

Any guesses to what answers would be forthcoming to those questions in the City Council’s dreamworld of reality? Ho hum . . . :-)