Carefree Unity is endorsing Dr. Sharon P. Smith for Carefree Town Council in the upcoming runoff election that will be decided by voters in the November 3 general election.
Smith earns our endorsement because of her prior and ongoing participation in Town government, because of her superior qualifications for the position, and because of her strong policy positions that align with the best interests of Carefree residents.
Ted Taylor appears to be conducting a good-faith campaign but is handicapped by a relative lack of knowledge and experience. We will provide one example to illustrate our concern:
Mr. Taylor has campaigned on a 50% reduction of Town staff compensation expenses and has repeatedly claimed that our former Town administrator was overpaid by $100,000 per year for the past eight years, citing an analysis of ten Arizona towns of comparable population that paid an average of $137,000 for that position. It sounds like that might be true, but is there good evidence that it is true?
No. The Town Administrator was paid $178,328 in 2024. That is not $100,000 more than $137,000, and of the ten towns used to develop the $137,000 average, only one is in Maricopa County (Guadalupe, which has an average income and average home values about one-fourth of those in Carefree). A more accurate number for comparable Arizona towns in our labor market was developed for the Carefree FY 2024 Classification and Compensation Study, and is approximately $187,000. Since that is higher than the Administrator’s actual salary the best available evidence suggests there was no overpayment at all.
The Compensation Study also addresses all Town staff, and the claim that 50% can be found in staff savings turns out to be completely unfounded as well. Carefree has a lean staffing model (4 employees per 1,000 residents compared to an average of 5.5 per 1,000 in comparable small towns). In addition, thirteen of sixteen Carefree job classifications have salaries below the midpoint of their competitive ranges. The full study is available through both the link above and the Town website.
It is important to note that we are not criticizing Mr. Taylor’s intentions. We applaud the instinct to scrutinize all Town expenses and fault him only for the poor analysis behind his conclusions.
In contrast, Sharon P. Smith is a professional labor economist who served as a volunteer consultant on the Town’s compensation study. She knows the facts and understands how they were uncovered.
This is not the only example we could cite, but this is not a comprehensive fact check. Instead, the rest of this article contains short summaries of a few other relevant issues.
Constituent Alignment
Both candidates believe they are running to support the desires of Carefree residents. For Dr. Smith that starts with conversations. She has been outside the post office regularly and has committed to continuing that practice weekly if elected. She describes her budgeting philosophy as “frugal budgeting,” starting with the budget items that absolutely must be done and then adding additional “desirable but not essential” items only as projected revenues permit. She also supports a conservative budget in which projected revenues have a high probability of being met or exceeded. We believe this approach aligns well with Carefree residents and can work effectively with the other members of the Council. Both candidates prioritize working with our existing businesses to help them grow and generate more tax revenue for the Town, for which we applaud them.
Town Experience
Sharon P. Smith is a Carefree Planning and Zoning Commissioner, which makes her also a member of the Economic Development Advisory Board, the Development Review Board and the Board of Adjustment. She has also participated in the Carefree Classification and Compensation Study and the Economic Development Plan.
Mr. Taylor is a past member of the SkyRanch Community Relations Committee.
Qualification
Dr. Smith was President of the University of Pittsburgh at Greenburgh for 12 years, a position which has some analogs to being a Town mayor. Before that she was Dean of The Schools of Business at Fordham University for 15 years, was President of the NASDAQ Stock Market Educational Foundation, and worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. As mentioned above, Smith is a published professional economist who has experience leading the AT&T Labor Relations Strategy Team. In our opinion this is an incredibly impressive resumé for a Town Council position.
Mr. Taylor has more than 25 years’ experience with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. To the best of our knowledge he has not provided details of his job responsibilities.
For these reasons, Carefree Unity endorses Dr. Sharon P. Smith for Carefree Town Council in the November 3 runoff election.
Carefree Unity 9/30/2026
