Former Scottsdale Mayors Campana and Manross wrote the following op-ed. It was published in the Scottsdale Progress.
Recently, WalletHub rated Scottsdale as one of the top 10 healthiest cities in the country. What a great accomplishment!
The article explained that one of the reasons Scottsdale rated so highly is because such a high percentage of citizens are active outdoors.
This didn’t happen by accident. One of our community goals has always been to have parks and recreation activities relatively close to all residents.
We know how critically important this is to everyone’s health and quality of life. Today we have 44 parks and over one third of our city is permanently protected as the McDowell Sonoran Preserve – the largest urban Preserve in the nation.
Our residents have an emotional tie to Scottsdale’s open spaces and beautiful Sonoran Desert. It is one of the reasons we love to call Scottsdale home.
As past mayors and council members, we are writing this joint letter to stress how important two upcoming Nov. 5 ballot measures are to Scottsdale. These ballot measures have been worked on by dedicated citizens from throughout our community for over a year and a half.
“To Protect and To Preserve Scottsdale” will upgrade our parks, starting with the oldest ones in the Indian Bend Wash, and provide much needed increased maintenance in all parks citywide.
It will support public safety by adding resources to our Fire Department and Police Department to better protect our park system and our Preserve.
It will provide ongoing care for our Preserve, including wildlife habitat and cultural resources protection. Finally, it will also bring much needed drainage, traffic circulation and increased shade improvements to one of our largest event and recreation venues, WestWorld.
All of this will be accomplished by replacing an expiring 0.20% sales tax and reducing it to 0.15% for thirty years. Extensive legal protections are included to ensure the revenue will be spent as specified.
This measure was passed by a super majority of the city council and enjoys widespread support.
The “permanent base adjustment” simply allows Scottsdale to spend the money it collects for programs and services that its residents want and deserve.
It isn’t a tax increase or an override. It is the fiscally responsible thing to do since Scottsdale hasn’t had an adjustment for 18 years. Without its passage significant service cuts will have to be made. City Council unanimously supported this measure.
Now is the time to rally on behalf of the city we love and make the necessary improvements to keep Scottsdale unique among communities and to take care of what we have worked so hard to create. These measures are strongly supported by the Scottsdale firefighters, police officers and countless organizations in our beautiful community. We urge you to join us all and Vote Yes-Yes Scottsdale on Nov. 5.
Mary Manross and Sam Kathryn Campana are former mayors of Scottsdale.