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www.ahwatukee.com
BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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PANDEMIC PIZZA
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SLUGGING FOR PRIDE
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he Phoenix City Manager was scheduled to present a proposed budget to City Council yesterday, May 4, with a dramatically different message from the one he presented at this time last year. City Manager Ed Zuercher noted that the $1.5 billion proposed General Fund budget for the �iscal year beginning July 1 “represents a remarkable turnaround from the budget of 2020-21 when we instituted hiring freezes to prevent COVID-related de�icits.”
This time the city is looking at a $154.8 million surplus that it will use to pay negotiated salary increases totaling $118.3 million and create 318 positions for “programs and services in several important categories.” The surplus results from $98 million in onetime funds – mostly federal pandemic relief money – and $56.8 million in increased revenue that partly re�lects higher real estate tax yields from the dramatic increases in home values over the past �iscal year. The combined real estate tax rate of $2.13 for the coming year will drop by a penny. While the primary rate of $1.31 remains unchanged,
Sanchez starts the race for DiCiccio’s successor
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@AhwatukeeFN |
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$154.8M city budget surplus funding raises, 318 new positions
NEW GRAD
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Wednesday, May 5, 2021
the secondary rate will drop from 82 cents to 81 cents. The budget also lists several new expenditures that administration of�icials said resulted from ideas offered during 14 community town halls on the budget. That new spending – at a cost of $4.3 million – includes three new parks in southwest Phoenix Highline Canal maintenance, more staff for the Pueblo Grande Museum, resources to promote AIDS awareness and prevention, a “city navigator” for veterans’ services, additional
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Kind words, deeds
BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
T
he election is 18 months away but the race for a successor to termed-out Councilman Sal DiCiccio is on. And the �irst candidate to kind of throw his hat into the ring is Moses Sanchez – who, like the incumbent, is an Ahwatukee resident. That, Sanchez contends, will be an important factor for Ahwatukee voters in the November 2022 Sixth Council District election. He said having an Ahwatukee resident on City Council in 2023 will be a huge deterrent to any move to split Ahwatukee into two council districts during the redistricting that new Census �igures will require. Though he said he won’t of�icially declare his candidacy until September, Sanchez called AFN last week to say, “I am con�irming any rumors that are being spread about my candidacy.” It was a kind of preemptive strike, he said, because
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More than 30 people organized by Ahwatukee resident Wanda Kolomyjec are showing support for asylum seekers every Wednesday in Ahwatukee. See page 3 for details. (Suzanne Whitaker/Special to AFN)
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