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The supporters of the proposed Pinal Rural Fire Rescue and Medical District (PRFR&MD) are presently attempting to gather enough petition signatures to establish their district. As residing property owners of this proposed district, we strongly oppose its formation and urge others not to sign the petition. Below are some of the reasons for our opposition.
(1) As stated in a previous letter to the editor (August 13, 2014), this proposed district would significantly raise our property taxes. Using our property as an example, our estimated additional taxes would be $314, an increase of 32%. In other words, if you sign this petition, you are supporting about a 32% increase in your property taxes.
(2) An important original concern was that the Pinal Rural Fire Rescue Fire Chief, Bud Paine, had very contentious and un-cooperative relationships with the all the local fire districts and emergency medical providers. Steve Turcotte (the Admiral), the Organizing Chairman of Board of Directors of the PRFR&MD, announced in a Letter to the Editor sent within two days of the Pinal County hearing on August 6, 2014, that Mr. Paine was resigning and moving to Idaho. Although this removes a major concern for many people, it also demonstrates the very undemocratic and autocratic way in which the proposed PRFR&MD will operate. It also makes us question whether the PRFR&MD backers will be able to get along any better than Mr. Paine did with the neighboring fire districts.
(3) Another important concern is that the proposed district appears to be run by non-locals. Rod Prast, the new acting Fire Chief, lives in Mesa and the rest of the potential firefighters all appear to live in Tucson. Steve Turcotte also lives in Tucson and is only at his property in Aravaipa Canyon for a few days each month. Therefore, in contrast to the Dudleyville, Mammoth, and San Manuel fire districts, which are all staffed and run by local, community-oriented residents, the new district would be staffed and run by “outsiders” with little real connection to the local community. Additionally, it is unclear how they would be able to respond to emergencies from so far away.
(4) Further, there appears to be less than 500 people in the proposed district. This is in contrast to about 1300 residents in the Dudleyville FD, 1500 residents in the Mammoth FD, and over 4000 residents in the San Manuel FD. As a result, the proposed district does not appear to have enough people to justify one new fire station, let alone the two stations that they are proposing to maintain and staff. There is also a great deal of undeveloped land with no structures (including the Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness!) in the proposed PRFR&MD. On this land, fires are the responsibility of AZ State Forestry Wildland Fire and a helicopter crew would respond to any medical emergencies, making the inclusion of these lands in the proposed district unnecessary.
(5) The fact that one of the strongest PRFR&MD supporters lives in the Dudleyville FD raises additional questions about their motivation for promoting a new district. Some PRFR&MD backers recently lodged an unfounded complaint with the AZ Attorney General against the Dudleyville FD. This shows that at least some of the motivation for this proposed district is to continue their misplaced vendetta against the Dudleyville FD. Their proposed additional station will be on land donated by the above-mentioned supporter in the Dudleyville FD (their existing fire station is actually in the Mammoth FD). What does that indicate about their future plans?
There may be some areas of the proposed district where there is sufficient residential density to justify inclusion in a taxing fire district, such as along Highway 77 and in Aravaipa Canyon. However, it would make more sense for those residents, if they so chose, to join one of the existing fire districts. The additional tax revenue would allow those districts to improve their equipment and training. It appears that the PRFR&MD supporters are bringing in “outside experts” because they think local residents are incapable of increasing the level of available services. If the PRFR&MD backers were sincere in their claim that they want to improve services for our area, instead of proposing an entirely new underfunded district, they would support the commonsense, limited expansion of the existing districts. We strongly urge the property owners of this proposed fire district not to sign the PRFR&MD petitions.
/s/ Cathy Gorman
/s/ Phil Hedrick
Winkelman
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