Taxes

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge David Udall has ruled that Mesa property owners won’t be on the hook for $130,000,000 for a 1.9 mile light rail extension that 98% of them will never use, so there is no need for the Mesa taxpayers to have a vote on the project.  

The extension will run along Main Street, from Mesa Drive to Gilbert Rd.  

Mesa resident and business owner Joe Price, through his attorney Gary Lassen, had filed a lawsuit presenting facts and precedents which they asserted clearly demonstrates the Arizona Constitution’s requirement that a public vote was mandated.

The judge rejected the plaintiff’s arguments, stating that the funding will come from TPANs (Transit-Project Advancement notes), and that the law states that the notes "are not general obligations of a political subdivision" and that they are to be paid from transportation funds or "other monies lawfully available for application to that purpose."  Thus, the law does not require a public vote before TPANs are issued.

Gubernatorial candidate Scott "Light Rail" Smith (aka Scott "Common Core" Smith) came up with this  funding scheme that gets around the pesky public vote.  Were there’s a determination to spend taxpayer dollars on government boondoggles, there’s a "funding mechanism" to the rescue.  

The judge is basically saying that if things go haywire, the buyers of the TPANs get stuck, not the Mesa taxpayers.  Mr. Price, who also publishes Mesa Watch, says this is nonsense.  Sophisticated buyers of millions of dollars in municipal bonds will want some guarantees.

According to Price, the Light Rail was promised by Valley Metro and Mesa to promote economic development. That hasn’t happened. Quite the opposite. Family owned businesses have been destroyed. A few low income housing developments are supposed to provide the economic development to replace the thousands of jobs and businesses lost due to Light Rail construction. 

This is the type of building project that Light Rail has brought to Main Street in Mesa and all down Apache Boulevard in Tempe. 

In case you were wondering: that IS the final color.  This was funded in part by you (through the City of Mesa and AZ Department of Housing); and you can see it in person if you drive west from Main and Dobson. 

This brief study of the City of Mesa FY2014/15 Budget has been compiled by Mesa resident Gene Dufoe.  Mr. Dufoe is a retired Boeing engineer/manager who possesses the following degrees:  BSAE, MSAE, and an MBA with an emphasis in Finance.