By the nature of the comments I hear around town, I get the impression that the typical citizen of Fountain Hills believes that the town’s money is kept in only one pocket. This leads to a serious misunderstanding of why the town is suffering from a lack of adequate and reliable revenues required to meet the town’s needs.

In fact, by law the many sources of revenue must be kept in many pockets, each with rules which determine how they may be spent. A good way to become more aware would be to become familiar with the budget and expenditure reports on the town website at fh.az.gov.

A further example of the complex nature of dealing with our town’s monies is covered in two excellent articles in The Times – April 4 edition, “Revenue: Council debates options” on page 1A and on 2A, “$3.25 million: Council considering Capital Improvement proposal.” These two very informative articles should be read, carefully and completely, in order to get a good handle on how difficult the task is for our town administration and how seriously they approach it. If you do not subscribe, I am sure copies are available on newsstands around town or the library.

The council’s job is made even more difficult by the dramatically reduced town staff and deferred maintenance projects due to revenue shortfall. Many projects, once accomplished in house, now are still required but must be done by outside contractors. I have used the term “critical mass” in previous letters. An example would be: playing tennis requires at least two people and applies to staffing needs as well. We need to get the town’s finances on an even keel so we may determine where increases in staff might even save money.