The Gilbert Bond is Double-Double Taxation

Is there anything better than a Double-Double at In-N-Out Burger? But what if you paid for a Double-Double but you really got a Single-Single?

Many great things come in twos. Taxation is not one of those.

On Tuesday, September 21st, the Gilbert Town Council voted to accept state funds to pay for a bridge that will span Ocotillo Road in South Gilbert. This is an important project for several reasons and foremost is public safety.

This bridge could turn out to be a Single with a Double-Double price tag. Here’s why. While it’s already slated to be funded by the state, the bridge ALSO appears on a list of projects to be paid with money from the proposed bond in November.

Yep, the Taxpayers may be paying double for a single bridge.

Another possibility is that Gilbert could end up paying twice as much for the bridge. Maybe it will come with extra toppings or a side of fries. Either way the taxpayers lose.

By the way, taxpayers have paid triple for recently bond-funded projects such as the Public Safety Training Facility. Most people believed that it was important, so we hurried past the ballot window at the drive-thru and didn’t get our change back.

Does this seem honest? GilbertWatch doesn’t think so.

Councilman Laurin Hendrix asked why the taxpayers should be expected to pay
twice for the bridge. The staff did not offer a clear answer and we are left to wonder if they are spending our hard-earned money responsibly.

So, Mayor Peterson, what’s on the menu? There aren’t even enough scheduled projects to total $100 million, and you’re asking for $500 million. There’s an awful lot of beef patties missing on that burger.

Like a sketchy marketing strategy, this bond will be placed on an off-cycle election when citizens are not paying attention. Only the unions and big corporations who have a financial incentive will be sure to vote. A better option would be to wait and add the bond to next year’s regular election. That would save money too.

Yes, infrastructure is important. Yes, public safety is important. And yes, we should pay for those with our hard earned taxpayer money. But let’s be clear—we don’t want to pay twice for a single project. Mayor and Councilmembers, you need to be clear too. What exactly will you do with $500 million?

Gilbert, vote NO on the bond. Hopefully, the Council will return next year with a reasonable bond amount. Only then will we be paying for what we get.