Old Town hosting Italian Fest P. 34
Scottsdale's Grand Canyon artist P. 30
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An edition of the East Valley Tribune
Sunday, February 17, 2019
Cactus League a home run for city’s taxpayers
INSIDE
This Week
BY WAYNE SCHUTSKY Progress Managing Editor
NEWS ..................................
16
Dolphin deaths stir probe, protests.
NEIGHBORS .....................
18
Arabian Horse Show's devoted fan.
C
actus League play in 2018 was a boon for Scottsdale’s coffers as the city generated over $21 million in sales tax revenue in March last year alone – more than any other spring training city in the East Valley. The city is home to one Cactus League team, the San Francisco Giants at Scottsdale Stadium, and two others, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies, play nearby at Salt River Fields in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. With games scheduled to begin at the end of the week, money from fan spending will again
start pouring into Scottsdale’s coffers. Scottsdale’s sales tax revenue of $21,613,590 in March 2018 was its highest monthly total in fiscal year 2017-18, accounting for just under 12 percent of citywide sales tax revenues that fiscal year. Fiscal year 2017-18 ran from July 2017 through June 2018. Despite its lasting popularity, the Cactus League is not always the top sales tax draw for Scottsdale, a city that hosts a number of highprofile events at the beginning of every year, including the Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction and Waste Management Phoenix Open. In March 2017, the city brought in
$14,879,276 in sales tax revenue, the fourthhighest total that fiscal year. In March 2018, Scottsdale’s sales tax revenue was even more than Mesa, a city that is nearly twice the size of Scottsdale based on population and is home to the Chicago Cubs, the Cactus League’s biggest draw. The Cubs led the Cactus league in attendance in 2018, drawing 222,023 fans, followed by the Diamondbacks (166,063) and Giants (155,651). Mesa took in $15,827,532 in sales tax in March 2018, up from the $14,620,629 it took in the year before.
Rising drug use Parada pardner in local schools tied to vaping
see CACTUS page 4
BY WAYNE SCHUTSKY Progress Managing Editor
BUSINESS .........................
26
DIY Scottsdale style.
NEIGHBORS .........................18 BUSINESS .............................26
OPINION ..............................28
ARTS ....................................30 FOOD & DRINK...................34 CLASSIFIEDS .......................38
A
Scottsdale teenager’s near-overdose death from a counterfeit pill laced with a powerful narcotic is the latest manifestation of a drug problem in local schools that apparently is increasing because of widespread vaping among teens. The teen’s overdose Feb. 6 involved a pill laced with fentanyl – a drug linked to a surge in overdose deaths nationwide in recent years – and led to the arrest of a 16-year-old Notre Dame student. Though the Feb. 6 overdose and subsequent arrest involved students outside the district, Scottsdale Unified School District
see OPIOIDS page 13
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Ryden Alford, 2, rode a steer from the ASpear J. Cattle Co. in last week;s Parada del Sol, which drew thousands of spectators eager to watch the colorful parade. For more photos, please see page. 20. (Pablo Robles/Progress Staff Photographer)
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