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Kuma’s Great Adventures
Anthem Autumnfest PAGE
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TheFoothillsFocus.com
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS ............... 10
Fry’s preps for COVID-19 boosters and flu vaccinations
FEATURES ........ 24 Ivan Harshman continues to deliver as a solo artist
FEATURES ........ 33 Lorraine Bossé-Smith celebrates release of her ninth book
OPINION ................... 13 FEATURES ................ 24 CLASSIFIEDS ............ 34 Zone I
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Serving the communities of Anthem, Desert Hills, Norterra, Sonoran Foothills, Stetson Valley, Tramonto, New River, Desert Ridge and North Phoenix
Anthem Area Edition
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Wednesday, October 13, 2021
Great Hearts Anthem breaks ground BY FOOTHILLS FOCUS STAFF
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tudents from Great Hearts Anthem Prep Academy and Archway Classical Academy clapped and cheered from their desks as they watched, via livestream, shovels hit the dirt just 2 miles down the road. The Oct. 4 event was a groundbreaking for their future school building at the northeast corner of Gavilan Peak Parkway and Arroyo Norte Drive. The ceremony marked the first phase of what will be a new two-story design to accommodate the nonprofit charter school’s growing student population.
The 82,000-square-foot ground-up build is something Great Hearts families and administrators have been looking forward to over the last several years. “The current building our Anthem students are in was always meant to be a temporary space,” said Great Hearts Arizona President Erik Twist. “Knowing that the future students at this school will have a new place to call home for the 2022/23 academic year is exciting to watch unfold and be part of.” The new school will sit on 10 acres of land
see GREAT HEARTS page 6
Erik Twist, Great Hearts Arizona president, addresses those in the audience during the ceremonial groundbreaking for the new Great Hearts Anthem Prep Academy and Archway Classical Academy. (Photo courtesy of Great Hearts)
Phoenix flush with cash—but not for long
BY PAUL MARYNIAK Foothills Focus Staff Writer
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hoenix is relatively flush with cash but administration officials have warned city council that might not last too long once it begins preparing for the 2022-23 budget. The boon to the 2020-21 general fund involved the use of $121 million of the $293 million the city received in federal pandemic relief funds. According to an administration and testimony at a recent city council study session, that allocation contributed sig-
nificantly to a $32.8 million surplus that is being applied to the current fiscal year. There were actually two parts to that surplus, according to city Budget and Research Director Amber Williamson. The city estimated revenue totaling $1.585 billion in 2020-21 but – as was the case with the state and many Arizona municipalities – Phoenix actually saw more revenue than it counted on. That gave the city an extra $27.9 million. Then, expenditures fell $4.9 million below what the city anticipated. “Revenue forecasting throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has been extreme-
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ly challenging,” according to a memo to council from retiring City Manager Ed Zuercher and his successor, Jeff Barton. “Several factors have influenced revenue collections and are uncharacteristic compared to past economic cycles – primarily, the infusion of one-time funds from the federal government via the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) and the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) acts into state and local economies,” the memo state. Noting Arizona overall received $60 bil-
see
PHOENIX page 4
