Unfortunately, the criteria to run for many elective political offices is limited to age, residency and citizenship. No requirements related to skills and knowledge, minimum IQ’s, completing comprehensive financial, social media and criminal background checks and undergoing a complete psychological evaluation.

Fountain Hills had 115 full-time equivalents (FTE’s) in FY 01/02. In FY 17/18, it had 55 FTE’s, with both periods having similar levels of population. I see many opportunities for spending reductions in the current budget.

One easy cut would be to eliminate the total compensation paid to our town’s seven elected officials. Board members of HOA’s receive zero compensation (and rightly so) and some of them put in more quality time than our politicians could ever imagine doing. Eliminating this annual expense would save almost $40K – about enough money to pay for a new lagoon study every year!

I don’t need to see our politicians on every page of The Fountain Hills Times engaging in self-promotion, sometimes in bizarre costumes. Fountain Hills already has a magnificent self-promoter. I’m sure that Joe Arpaio is not pleased with others trying to steal his thunder. Rather, I want my politicians to sit at their desks, in front of their computers, crunching numbers 24/7, constantly thinking of innovative ways to reduce expenses, taxes and unnecessary laws and regulations.

Fountain Hills doesn’t need another tax increase. It needs competent and qualified politicians to run our government effectively and efficiently, and they must focus on using tax dollars solely to provide core government services.