Questions / Answers

Bob Bodine has these questions:

Here is a partial list of questions I have relating to the proposed tax.

I am having a very difficult time understanding how Mesa got into this financial mess in the first place. We have been, and continue to be, one of the fastest growing cities in the nation. With that growth comes increased tax revenue, impact fees, building fees, and the list goes on and on. If the City had been managed properly would we now be facing a financial problem? [1]

[1]The answer here is yes. There have been some management issue but at the heart of the issue is the revenue side. We get revenue from city sales taxes, utility revenue, and state shared revenue.

I am having a very hard time understanding how we can afford to build a very expensive performing arts center and now be broke. Did the City know about the financial problems back when the decision was made to build it? If not why? [2]

[2]The Arts Center was built with voter approved sales taxes specifically set aside for that use. There is no debt associated with the building. We are also spending the same amount in general fund dollars in the new arts center as we were in the old arts center next to the post office. The city would be in the same financial condition if it was built or not.

I am having a very, very, hard time understanding why the City spent 60K to an out of state a recruiting firm to help find a new City Manager. I have worked in human resource management for over 25 years and I cannot see how that was necessary. Please explain to me why it was? [3]

[3]To get the best and the brightest we need to search the country. You don’t solve problems by selecting from the people who may have created them in the first place. I am glad they brought in somebody from the outside.

I can’t understand why we have so many stop lights along Main Street and the downtown area. Each intersection can cost up to 80K. Explain to me how spending all that money was and is necessary? [4]

[4]You will need to do some research on this. Typically, some very smart transportation professionals make decisions like this. This comment is basically armchair quarterbacking old decisions.

Can you tell me if it was possible to build a less expensive fire station downtown? It’s very nice, but if we were going broke couldn’t we have done something a little less expensive. [5]

[5]I completely agree with you on this point. I agree we could have done well with much less. The concept, as I understand it, is this is a battalion headquarters and merited the larger building.

Help me understand why our City has a reputation for being so unfriendly to business and why it’s so difficult to build and put in businesses in Mesa? Wouldn’t being more business friendly increase the number of business and the tax revenue? [6]

[6]Friendliness has little to do with bringing in new business. The market determines what business locates where. The City of Mesa, by the way, doesn’t have regulation different than any city in Maricopa County. The lack of property tax hasn’t been any incentive to bring large employers here either.

Help me understand why it took three police cars and three officers to issue a minor traffic to ticket to one of our neighbors kids? Does that seem like effective utilization of manpower and tax revenue? [7]

[7]Different circumstances warrant different responses. I am hesitant to second guess the cops response to an issue.

I can’t understand how in a recent report I read that our city streets were in horrible condition and that it would take tens of millions to fix them. How did all this happen while the City was spending millions on a new parking structure for the police, art centers, and host of other non-essential items? Did the City just wake up one day and realized it was now a problem? Or, did the City ignore the problem and hope it would go away? [8]

[8]The City has been defering maintenance as a budget saving measure so it would not have to ask the citizens for a tax increase. It is now time to pay the bill. The city also hoped sales tax revenues would pick up but they have steadily been drained to other cities.

Please explain to me how the City has demonstrated it can be trusted to effectively manage the money that we citizens have already provided? [9]

[9]There are no guarantees, sorry. Circumstances, politics and economies all change.

What assurance can you give that in another five or ten years the City won’t be coming back asking its citizens to bail them out of another financial crisis? [10]

[10]See above answer.

Please explain to me why the answer to virtually any government problem is to spend more money? [11]

[11]Can you please name for me the alternatives to spending more money? If your plumbing leaks, do you buy new parts and call a plumber? Does that cost money. Everything that costs more for you, costs more for the city.

Please help me understand why the City allowed this problem to occur in the first place? [12]

[12]The city doesn’t “allow” a problem to occur. Chandler built a new mall to draw off sales tax dollars, Tempe does the same, 9-11 happens, recession, etc. Many things are out of the city’s control.

And I would really like to know if the City will be willing to come to my rescue and take care of my credit card debt because I was irresponsible and overspent this last Christmas? [13]

[13]Comments like this discredit you as someone serious about your questions. Is it really a matter of over spending or not making enough money to cover last Christmas? It is all about perspective.