Recently Allen Skillicorn, a Town Council candidate, suggested that to generate another $5 million per year in sales tax revenues to fund street repairs, the Town simply needs to attract more visitors.
His suggestion means that retail and restaurants would need to increase total sales at least $170 million annually. That’s nearly a 50% increase over 2020-21 sales results, at a time when many businesses cannot find employees. The fact is each $50 spent locally generates just $1.45 in Town sales tax revenues. Thus, his idea means another 3.4 million people must be attracted to Fountain Hills annually and spend $50 during each trip.
If the Town was able to sandwich another 10 major events between existing events, those new events would need to attract over 340,000 visitors every time. This translates into potentially 170,000 vehicles using our streets. And searching for parking. And having streets blocked off.
Another idea he espoused was to organize weekday events. Assuming those could happen during our 26 weeks of favorable temperatures, the events would need to attract 26,000 visitors each and every day. While more events may be appealing to some, are they really the solution to generating the funds needed to repair our streets, or are they just diversionary political tactics to avoid addressing street problems head-on?
