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TU calls for budget overrides, bond elections BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
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he Tempe Union High School Governing Board last week voted unanimously to ask voters to approve two override questions and a $100 million bond request on the Nov. 8 ballot. Approval of all three measures would equal a combined tax increase from .5924% this year
to .7998% per $100 of assessed valuation in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2023 – raising taxes by about $52 a year on a house valued at $249,642, according to the district. Currently, that tax totals $148 a year. The board’s vote followed a detailed presentation by Diane Meulemans, assistant superintendent for business services, on a range of needs, many of which are becoming more expensive as the result of rampant inflation.
The overrides include one for basic operational spending that would be 15% for the first five years, then go down to 10% the sixth year and 5% the seventh. The other is a 10% 7-year override, or $8.7 million a year, for the District Additional Assistance budget that covers equipment not included in the regular capital spending or bond program.
see BOND page 12
A cautionary message as summer begins BY PAUL MARYNIAK AND CECILIA CHAN AFN News Staff
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nyone who shrugs off news about a non-fatal child drowning as a momentary scare might want to talk to Brandi Stoll. As the Ahwatukee woman has often explained on social media, near-drownings can shake parents to the core, often with longterm consequences for a child and their family. In some ways, Stoll was luckier than some parents of young near-drowning victims when her then-year-old daughter Alizah Rose slid unnoticed beneath the surface of her family’s pool last July 31. In a worst-case scenario, non-fatal drowning victims can be left a spastic quadriplegic in need of care around the clock, their brain damaged from being cut off from oxygen for too long. Fortunately, that didn’t happen to Alizah. Still, a nightmare engulfed Alizah’s parents on what started to be a routine Saturday afternoon during a small gathering.
see DROWNINGS page 4
LEFT: Brandi Stoll of Ahwatukee posts these photos of her then-year-old daughter Alizah Rose after she was hospitalized following a near-drowning in her family’s pool last July 31. RIGHT: After three grueling days in the hospital intensive care unit, Alizah was out of the woods and came home and her mom posted this photo of Alizah on Aug. 10, five days before Alizah celebrated her 2nd birthday . (Brandi Stoll) 4454 East Thomas Road • Phoenix, AZ 85018
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