By Henry Twombly, Sedona Resident
(January 23, 2015)
I was both amused and horrified to read the [Sedona] City Council’s wishlist. I was amused by the variety of unnecessary projects that would cause senseless discretionary spending. Some of my favorites were website enhancement, wireless master plan and broadband, a central meeting place and the ultimate one – a new design and aesthetics for street signs, which has to be somebody’s pork request. Needless to say, I was horrified that there was no mention of balancing the budget without spending down the reserves. No hint at all of any fiscal responsibility to us taxpayers.
The City touted how more much input was received by residents through the Citizen Engagement Committee. I would love to learn the identity of those members, because most of the items on the wishlist appeared to be pork for vested interests, who benefit from the City’s largesse. For example the Chamber and its tourism affiliates probably had something to do with these wishes: short-term rental enforcement, crackdown on illegal conversion from single-family homes to multi-family units, and an accessory dwelling unit ordinance update. They were probably instrumental in making a low priority the wish for monitoring destination marketing and product development and funding. Mostly because we citizens would probably learn how ineffective and wasteful these efforts have been.
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