More from both sides in the incorporation debate
Opposing incorporation
Many residents feel a change to the Community Facilities District law is a better option for community improvements, without all of the responsibilities of a town.
Incorporation will negatively affect our...
TAXES
A municipality will add significantly to the areas and your tax rate.
Utilities, retail, food, restaurants (employee meals), bars, construction contracting, telecommunications, cable TV, advertising, rentals, wastewater removal - even printing and jet fuel can be taxed by a town, and the list doesn't end there.
The other side is always talking about housing. So let's address that.
Under a proposed incorporated Tusayan, the total property tax bill for a new single-family house in Tusayan would be a least $6,409 per year. The average cost to build a new home, at Kotzin, could exceed a half-million dollars. Insuring a home in a flood plain is another unknown expense.
Rental housing could be subject to additional municipal taxes.
An incorporated Tusayan could create a town jail, public works department, human resources department, planning and zoning department, streets department, economic development department and police. We could also pay salaries for a mayor, town council, clerk, manager and a myriad of other town employees, all paid for by your taxes.
As we all know, governments don't get smaller - they get bigger. So, as large as your tax bill will be if we incorporate - count on it getting bigger.
SCHOOL
Creating a new layer of government, that will take away resources from our children, could be devastating to our school. The money that an incorporated Tusayan would suck up should instead be used to develop the school's 80 acres in Tusayan. To let it go undeveloped would be a shame and a disservice to our children.
With incorporation, it will take years to see things get accomplished at the new site. We want improvements for families sooner rather than later.
Our school district is primarily funded through property taxes. An incorporated Tusayan could increase property taxes and levy numerous sales taxes. People have a certain tolerance for paying higher and higher taxes. Unlike our school district, which needs to go to the voters for all secondary taxes, a town would have the ability to levy a tax on new goods or services by a town council vote alone.
These additional taxes could lead to "taxpayer burnout." That means sometime in the future when our schools are in dire need of more money, we could be turned down by voters who feel their taxes are already too high. That would be a shame.
There are many in Tusayan and Grand Canyon that have worked hard to create a school system we are proud of. Please don't let an incorporated Tusayan suck it dry of what it needs.
COMMUNITY
Incorporation will be a stepping-stone to unbridled growth, environmental degradation, and create a crime and population explosion, causing a burden on a population that currently has very few citizens to govern it all. Community improvements will take longer with incorporation.
UNBRIDLED GROWTH
Tusayan currently has 144 acres with about 70 currently developed. In the proposed incorporated boundaries the Italian developers have 354 acres of vacant land. This is the acreage they hope to change zoning on and develop.
Another option a town has is the Town Site Act to apply for another 640 acres. Tusayan doesn't need this kind of growth near to Grand Canyon National Park. It should be noted that only the Italian developers' private lands were included in the proposed boundaries.
ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION
It would be an environmental disaster. Incorporation backers have said they want a golf course/resort at Ten-X Ranch. Additional massive commercial development will replace open space. There would be increased use of water, other natural resources, and more pollution, which will have an effect on our wildlife. The more people move here - the more lights we'll have and our beautiful star-filled nights won't be so star-filled anymore. This urbanization shouldn't happen so close to the Grand Canyon.
CRIME & UNWANTED CHANGE
Many people have decided the small rural nature of our area, with controlled growth and low crime, is where they want to be and raise their families.
Housing is subsidized by area employers and has been for years. If incorporation backers can get employees to buy expensive housing they will no longer have to pay to subsidize housing and utilities.
Logically, a larger population translates into more crime.
Buildings that tower above the hotels we have here already are a real possibility. Current zoning requirements that protect things like the beauty of our night sky and open space could vanish.
Do we want the Tusayan area to become many times the size it is today? To lose that sense of a rural community versus an urban community? What could be next? A Hooters? A Wal-Mart?
Eric Gueissaz
Clarinda Vail
Beth Seely
John Thurston
Becky Shearer
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