By Barb Buntin
I went to the TOP Council Retreat on Saturday the 4th of Feb. The focus was to explain why the town will need to borrow money to pay for what they call capital improvements like the roads, and drainage at Rumsey Park.
So, the shiny object projects versus maintenance and improvements of what we already have.
There are 2 ways to pay for this money. 1 – increase in excise taxes, therefor an increase in the TPT or 2 – GO General Obligation Bonds which would be paid back by an increase in your property taxes. There are no free lunches.
They went into great detail about some bills at the legislature now, that if passed would impact the town’s bottom line. I will have to wait to get a copy of the presentation to expound on this.
The town manager was strongly pushing for the GO bonds which would require a vote of the people. The earliest would be 2023 and he would need to know right away as there would be much to do. The excise tax would not require a vote
The town had experts there. Paul Ulan, a principal at Primary Consultants who would help to develop strategies for the initiative. He laid it all out and there is a lot required by law.
401/402 is throwing a wrench into all this. This was the initiatives passed as a reaction from Payson citizens to the ill conceived and thought out Ice Hockey Academy back in 2018. Zack Sakas a bond attorney, said that 401/402 is outside Arizona Statutes and was unconstitutional when passed. This could cause investors to be nervous, so will have to be dealt with ie go to the courts to be resolved and not merely 4 members of the town council.
