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For the past four months, I have been sitting on the CAG regional meetings as the Mayor of the Town of Mammoth. This is attended by all Mayors from the small, and some from the large, cities and towns in the SE corner of the State. It was not attended by the Mayors from here, in the past. It is a wealth of information to all that attend these meetings, with current information from many different Town and State issues.
I am also on the budget committee for CAG. It is here that I have found the Central Arizona Government is in financial hard times. This is, in part, due to Pinal Co. proposing to start their own administration department, and, pulling away from CAG altogether. This will put CAG $350K short in operation, not unlike the cuts the Town of Mammoth has had to make.
Many of these cuts were due to the fact the town has been mismanaged for the past two years (insurance and taxes not paid for the past two years). That being said, we are trying to get the Town in the black, and, I feel it will be done in another nine months, not counting what we owe to HURF funding, based on the cuts. Mismanagement is not the issue with CAG, and I have witnessed Ken Hall doing an excellent job. With all the cuts, and our four Public Works people doing the job of six people, we are keeping our heads above water, but, barely.
I will be proposing subcontracting the daily water readings at $15 a day. Two persons need to be qualified for these positions for 365 days a year coverage. There is also a need for subcontracting the weed cutting and branch removal on a weekly basis. This will be a two man team and will be seasonal. The rate will be $11 an hour per person. Contact the Town.
Back to the funding crisis in our town, and other towns with a population of less than 5,000. As the towns and cities in Arizona expand and more people move into our State, the funding these larger towns generate cuts the smaller towns down, and, as they say, “Our piece of the pie gets smaller.”, based on the fact smaller towns are not growing. The answer here is for smaller towns of less than 5,000 people to get a larger percentage of State Shared Revenue, and, larger towns and cities a smaller percentage.
Our future looks bleak to me, and, as I see for the future of our small towns, legislature need to be changed. I am not a mathematician, but, I can see the projected numbers only mean less money for small towns in the future years. We need to talk to our legislature and State Senators to have laws changed. What will help is HURF funds, which need to go into our general funds for the operation of small towns. Small towns need to get a percentage of their country lottery sales. Also, a percentage of lottery funding needs to go to excellent organizations like CAG. To let CAG go down would be another let down for small towns. Last, we do not need to cut education since our children are the future of all towns of Arizona.
/s/ Don Jones
Mayor, Town of Mammoth
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