An elephant in the room – or maybe it was a big ugly gorilla – made some noise during last week’s Town Council meeting as Strategic Planning Advisory Commission (SPAC) Chairman Dana Saar presented a new draft of the Strategic Plan to the council.

As Saar discussed the efforts of SPAC and the year-long Vision Fountain Hills process, the topic of a primary property tax came to the forefront.

Dori Wittrig, co-chairman for VisionFH and co-chair for the Leadership Academy, took the floor and said she is pleased that the Vision process is recognized as the largest effort for collecting community input the town has had.

However, she said they find the town is in peril due to funding issues, describing the situation as urgent and critical.

“During the Vision process we took a lot of time to present these issues,” Wittrig said. “We came to the conclusion that the solutions are a lot less scary when presented with all of the information.”

Councilman Alan Magazine said that when he served on SPAC with the 2010 plan review they found that fiscal sustainability was a key issue at that time.

“We have done nothing,” Magazine said. “What are we doing to address this number one concern?”

Town Manager Grady Miller said it was “heartening” to see that the Vision process recognizes the need for more dialogue with the community.

“I would look at a citizens or blue ribbon committee for recommendations,” Miller said. “Primary property tax is the big ugly gorilla in the room. Whether it should go back to the voters needs to be a process of discussion.”

“With all due respect, I oppose that approach,” Magazine said. “All we do is study, study, study and end up kicking the can down the road. Another committee just puts off the decision as we deeper in the hole.”

Councilman Art Tolis said he disagrees with Magazine’s assertion that noting has been done since 2010.

“We are coming back from the recession,” Tolis said. “Development is coming back, the School District is doing a great job. There is a lot that is positive.”

Mayor Linda Kavanagh said she believes Magazine was misinterpreting Miller’s comment.

“I believe that once a conclusion is reached a committee needs to be responsible to go out and discuss provided information,” Kavanagh said.

She went on to ask that further discussion be held until a study session on the Strategic Plan is held.

Tolis said there are two giant elements to the budget, law enforcement and fire/emergency medical.

“A property tax proposal has been tried and failed four times, and I don’t think it will pass again,” Tolis said. “We need to consider what the alternatives are.

“There can be no increases without accountability.”

“We all know that the elephant in the room is revenue solutions,” Councilman Henry Leger said. “We need to focus on how to operationalize a plan. That’s the way to move forward.”

The council voted 7-0 to move the Strategic Plan discussion to a work study session at a later date.