We congratulate the winners of the recent Town Council elections, Colleen Rose-Scurti, Lon Johnson, and Diane Lloyde Roth. Their four-year terms will begin on December 5.
The campaign explored many important issues: town policies, community involvement, transparency, and amendments for a new General Plan. It also featured attacks on past policies and misinformation on a variety of topics.
But that was just the campaign. Governance has different imperatives, all of which must be forward-looking. After hard-fought compromises on a General Plan that gave something to everyone but everything to no one, we call on the council-elect to join the existing council in promoting ratification by the residents in the November election. We all need to put that fight behind us; it’s time now to move from planning to action.
The most urgent issue going forward is clearly economic development. The recent nine-year budget projection, Carefree’s extreme reliance on sales tax revenue, and residents’ proven resistance to property taxes appear to have united both present and future council members in the need to focus on increasing sales tax opportunities. The impending departure of significant retailer Ace Hardware has only increased the urgency.
We look forward to this reality as a potential unifying force for action. Options for near-term improvement are limited to revenue improvements in the Town Center and to development of the Special Planning Area at the corner of Carefree Highway and Cave Creek Road. Some initiatives are already well underway and must be continued and encouraged, and there are only a limited number of ways to encourage private land or business owners to increase revenue on their properties.
We welcome the new members to the Carefree Town Council. We are all in the same boat now, and we are confident that each of you will grab an oar!
Carefree Unity
Carefree Unity 