We didn't see this problem in 2000?

The Republic is reporting the debate that has grown over the future bonds and the secondary property tax that may be attached. Mesa is having to find $30 million bucks this year, to pay for bonds that were previously issued. Its been a long time coming since I think these bonds have been pushed out over a long period of time to try to make ends meet. Its like taking out a 7 year loan on your car.

Now, the City staff is talking about raising a retroactive tax to pay for whats left so there would be enough operations money to pay for the stuff that they want to build with the new bonds. You gotta hand it to Tom Rawles. At least he says it like it is. There is a clear problem at hand: even if the voters approve the bonds to build the new police and fire stations, there is not enough money to staff them. Now, the council is talking about leaving that issue in the hands of the future council. What sort of leadership is that?

If you recall, there was a lot of talk about imminent cuts during the property tax election. What happened to all of those? Why aren't they talking cuts now to make up the $8 million a year needed to staff these stations. We need priorities, not retroactive taxes.

What is even more troubling is the following statement by Claudia Walters:

"The fundamental problem, she said, is that the city's financing system no longer works, and no one could have foreseen that when bonds were issued in 2000."

Really? We didn't see that people were moving out of Mesa in 2000? We didn't see new freeways coming online making it easier for people to live further away? We didn't see that people were starting to shop elsewhere? We didn't see that Mesa was the only community without a property tax?

I am sure someone must have mentioned that there was a potential problem down the road. I certainly know that it didn't take until 2007 to realize that there was a problem.