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STUDIO 111 REBIRTH
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CHAMPION BULLDOGS
Wednesday, June 2, 2021
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Dry for 8 years, some Ahwatukee Lakes filling up BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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or the first time in eight years, some Ahwatukee Lakes are starting to fill up with something other than storm water. Vowing to open the long-dormant Ahwatukee Lakes Golf Course by November, owner Wilson Gee hit a milestone last month as he began filling some of the site’s lakes. But it’s an open question whether his work so far will satisfy Superior Court Judge Theodore Campagnolo’s order that the course be open for business by the fall 2022, threatening Gee with $3.5 million in contempt-of-court penalties. Gee closed the course in 2013. In fact, the attorney representing the two homeowners who in 2014 sued Gee was to file
see LAKES page 12
Ahwatukee Lakes Golf Course owner Wilson Gee began filling some of the lakes last month as he continues advancing toward his goal of reopening the course this fall – a year ahead of a judge’s deadline and eight years after he shut the site down. (Tom Sanfilippo/Inside Out Aerial)
Kyrene capital budget raises auditor’s concern BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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relatively new tool released by the Arizona Auditor General for assessing school districts’ financial health shows Kyrene School District is at “high risk” in three of 10 measures of fiscal soundness. But Kyrene Chief Financial Officer Chris Hermann told the school board last week that the metrics are only “indicators” and “guideposts” to help districts and the Auditor General identify troubling fiscal trends. Kyrene is rated at high risk for declines in state reimbursement caused by enrollment shrinkage – the only factor rated high risk for Tempe Union as well – and for two areas involving its capital budget.
One area is a 26.8 percent decline in its capital reserves between the 2018-19 and 201920 fiscal year and the other Kyrene’s redirection of 44.8 percent of its capital budget this fiscal year to shore up operational spending. “I think you could really kind of look at what happened last year as being clearly relating to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Hermann told the board. “And so, we were faced with some really difficult budget-balancing situations last year,” he said, explaining “the capital spending really was done because we did not have additional funding coming to us as a school district.” Noting “there are no official penalties or things like that” for edging into a high-risk category, Hermann said: “It’s good for us to be aware of those things.
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It’s actually very good because you can compare all public-school districts and only publicschool districts are required have that information provided. “Not all public funded schools are required to have that same information,” he added, indicating charter schools that get tax dollars are not included in the new measurement tool, which is at frisk.azauditor.gov. Kyrene is far from being the only district cited as high risk in any of the three categories. The AG site shows that of 207 public school districts in Arizona, 104 are at high risk for enrollment decline, 74 for declines of more than 25 percent in their capital reserves and 51 for directing more than 25 percent of capital fund-
see KYRENE page 9
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