Payson Roundup 073115

Page 1

Rain plays it coy

Photo courtesy Sanja Long, a Roundup reader

payson.com

by

Michele Nelson

roundup staff reporter

Each afternoon, Rim Country residents eagerly watch the clouds build, then sigh in disappointment as they dissipate with little rain. Welcome to the world of El Niño. “We’ve had some longer breaks in the monsoon than we’ve seen in the last couple of years,” said Justin Johndrow, a meteorologist with the Flagstaff National Weather Service. Johndrow attributes that change in the monsoon pattern to troughs of colder air squatting above the Rim Country airspace. See Monsoon, page 10A

PAYSON ROUNDUP FRIDAY | JULY 31, 2015 | PAYSON, ARIZONA

75 CENTS

Hellsgate struggles as cost of station doubles Fire district needs $400,000 more by

Alexis Bechman

roundup staff reporter

It was dubbed a simple project that would cost $375,000 and take a year to build. After burning through much of that money, the Hellsgate Fire District is the proud owner of a concrete slab. On Wednesday night, the fire district board debated what it should do next. Walk away from the problem-riddled project or more than double the budget to complete a new fire station in Tonto Village, one of the outlying communities the Star Valley-based district serves. Fire Chief Dave Bathke said his predecessor Gary Hatch started the project and dumped it in his lap when he retired. He punted the project’s issues on Hatch and the county, saying he was just trying to get things back on track. When Hatch spoke to the Roundup

in December 2013 from the site, he said while it would be no “Taj Mahal,” the 5,000-square-foot metal building would be a huge step up from the existing station, a small, leaky building just a few blocks away. Fixing it and bringing it up to code is too costly, he said, and would not offer the station much more room. They designed the new station to have five bays, a staff office, fitness room, living quarters and a training room. Its location allows for quicker emergency access to the Control Road, the main artery to nearby subdivisions in the district. To cut construction costs, several firefighters volunteered to do much of the work. That fell through though along with many of the other plans, the board

Alexis Bechman/Roundup

The cost of replacing Hellsgate’s Tonto Village station doubled after Hellsgate Fire Department was forced to abandon a do-it-yourself approach and hire a contractor.

• See Hellsgate, page 2A

Kindergarten teachers plead for smaller classes Class sizes may exceed 30 without another teacher by

Michele Nelson

roundup staff reporter

Flanked by all but one of the Payson Elementary School kindergarten teachers, Jane Pond and Sylvia Sandoval on July 27 begged the Payson Unified School District board to add another kindergarten teacher to the staff. “We’re concerned about the kinder-

garten numbers,” said Pond to the board. Pond said with the rate of late kindergarten registrations this year and only six kindergarten teachers, it looks as if the first day of school will see kindergarten classes of 30 students. The kindergarten teachers said classes this size do not allow for learning. Too large a class and teachers lose control. “(The class) needs to be structured,

orderly and safe,” said Pond. New Principal Gail Milton said she has noticed Payson lacks pre-school opportunities so for many kindergarten students, kindergarten is their first school experience. “They have so much to learn,” she said. The state for several years funded all-day kindergarten statewide, but cut

funding to half-day support during the recession. The Payson School District initially offered full-day kindergarten for parents who paid extra, but two years ago shifted money around in the budget to offer full-day kindergarten with no fees. Kindergarten enrollment has risen steadily since then. Pond said the district had advertised for a seventh position at the end of the school year, but when the registration numbers in May showed a decrease from last year, dropped the ad for the position.

Sandoval said that was a mistake, since many parents don’t register their children that early in the year. “They wait until the week before school or even the day before school,” she said. The teachers have a point — especially when it comes to class sizes in the early primary school grades. Payson significantly increased primary school class sizes when it closed Frontier for budget reasons. See Payson classes, page 9A

Payson scrambles to find enough 911 dispatchers by

Alexis Bechman

roundup staff reporter

“It is often the worse call they’ll make on the worst day of their life,” said Alison Murphy, Payson Police Department dispatch supervisor. On the other end of the line, dispatchers never know what the next call will bring. From a suicidal subject, to a couple fighting, someone in cardiac arrest or a vehicle accident, a timely and appropriate response often means life or death and rests squarely on the dispatcher’s shoulders. For the PPD, handling an increasing number of calls (more than 56,000 last year, including 7,800 to 911), has been trying amid dispatcher turnover, with just four full-time dispatchers, not including supervisors. THE WEATHER Weekend: Partly sunny with highs in the low 90s, lows in the low 60s. Chance for rain 20 to 30% both days. Heading into next week it will be mostly sunny with highs in the mid 90s, lows in low 60s. Details, 9A

But things have become a little easier at the dispatch center with two new trainees and another coming on board in mid August. In addition, the one-room dispatch center recently received a makeover with new sit-tostand desks, carpet and paint. The desks are not merely cosmetic though. The space is laid out now so four dispatchers can work comfortably at once in the event of a major emergency. Before, the space was set up primarily for two dispatchers. Impact fees on new construction paid for the $50,000 improvements. With the town no longer assessing impact fees for police service, it is the last of the money. Police Chief Don Engler said with the town growing, especially if a fouryear university is built, upgrading

• See Payson, page 2A

Alexis Bechman/Roundup

Payson’s $50,000 overhaul of the police and fire dispatch center allows four dispatchers to operate at the same time in case of major emergencies.

County’s $92 million budget drops 3 percent Property values rise; tax rate unchanged by

Teresa McQuerrey

roundup staff reporter

volume 25, no. 61

the space was crucial since it had not been done since the equipment was installed in 2000. Murphy said the equipment is laid out so dispatchers can better answer emergency calls and the many non-emergency requests, such as for barking dogs or information. PPD dispatchers also handle calls for Hellsgate, Houston Mesa, Christopher-Kohl’s, Whispering Pines and Beaver Valley fire departments. To handle such a wide range of calls and communities, Murphy likes to have two dispatchers on duty at all times, but given the recent shortage has found that all but impossible. Two dispatchers means calls are answered timely and if there is a major incident, the other dispatcher

Gila County’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year will drop by $2.5 million — nearly 3 percent. The FY 2015-16 budget will shrink to $92 million, despite a heartening rise in assessed

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values — mostly due to mining properties in South County. The primary property tax rate will remain at $4.19 per $100 of assessed value for the sixth consecutive year. Nonetheless, the rise in assessed values will boost property tax collections by about $3 million to $20 million. Property valuations increased from $416 million to $482 million, with $56 million of the bump attributed to centrally assessed properties (mines and utilities). In addition, the county should get $500,000

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more from its cut of state-shared sales taxes. Nonetheless, the budget calls for 28 fewer employees than this year, which the supervisors attributed to tight budget management by elected officials and department heads. Faced with ongoing impacts from the state budget and uncertain federal support, the supervisors said they struggled to not raise the property tax rate, despite continuing state cuts and cost shifting. The supervisors could have added $8.8 million to the property tax rate and still

stayed below the legal maximum on the tax levy, according to a county press release. “The budget is conservative and reflects necessities, not wants, but also funds a strong criminal justice system, addresses the county’s long-term infrastructure requirements and provides quality services to constituents,” said Mike Pastor, District 2 supervisor and chair of the board. More than 58 percent of the county’s general fund budget goes to criminal justice, See County, page 9A

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