Do you really want your Town Government to spend your tax dollars providing entertainment and babysitting services? If the Town uses tax money to subsidize FREE entertainment and VIRTUALLY FREE kid-sitting services, then how can private enterprise compete with that? Here is an interesting “rule of thumb.” If government provides a “service” subsidized by taxes that you can find in the yellow pages, then government is competing against and crowding out private enterprise.
A Gilbert Watch reader has stated, “I’m having trouble wrapping my brain around a town that constantly boasts such things as ‘playful city,’ ‘best dog parks,’ with ‘amenities and activities that make Gilbert a great place to live,’ and then tells us with a straight face that we’re out of money…”
I would add, "and tells us with a straight face that Gilbert is ‘business friendly.’"
Here’s another interesting observation. The Riparian Preserve is an unique environment that you won’t find in the yellow pages. It has had over 1 million visitors in the last 10 years. Many of those visitors come from out of state to see the unusual birds that reside there or pass through.
However, the Riparian Preserve costs the taxpayers at least $334,000 per year to support. This site cries out to be a profit center. But no. The Town’s excuse for not doing anything so evil as to "make money," is that “tourists and visitors spend money, and so tax revenues are gained.” If a sharp business person were running it (those guys are held accountable), he/she would say, “You have an opportunity to gain more than unmeasurable tax revenues, so why not run it like a business"?
See the following link for how the Town is “playing around” with your tax dollars. www.gilbertaz.gov