Town requires facemasks
Gilbert police seek slay info
PAGE 11
PAGE 3
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
REAL ESTATE SECTION
NEWS......................... 4-5 Meet Town Council, mayor candidates
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE OF GILBERT) | GilbertSunNews.com
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Town Council approves budget amid criticism BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
D
espite angry pleas from citizens, Gilbert Town Council voted 5-2 to begin the new fiscal year July 1 with a $993 million spending plan, a secondary property tax levy collection of $26 million and 82 new positions. Because COVID-19’s impact on the town’s revenue stream is unclear, the budget has built-in triggers for spending based on its sales tax haul. “When we started this, certainly there was no idea on anyone’s part we would be coming into the type of event that we’ve come into with the pandemic,” Town Manager Patrick Banger said at last week’s Town Council
meeting. “We had a budget that we felt met the needs of this community, of the growth that we’ve seen in this community to maintain our service levels and to continue to maintain the quality of life that we all enjoy in Gilbert,” Banger added. The new budget is $56 million less than the current year’s spending plan due mostly to reduced capital improvement expenditures, according to Budget Director Kelly Pfost. Council members Aimee Yentes and Jared Taylor voted against the budget and the secondary property tax levy. The levy is restricted to paying off bond debt approved by voters to finance street projects and the public safety training facility. Pfost said the tax rate will remain at $0.99
per $100 of assessed property value for the third year in a row and that Gilbert has the lowest municipal property tax in the Valley and the lowest sale tax rate at 1.5 percent. But a handful of residents spoke out against the levy, saying they would still be paying more in taxes. “Most of you on the dais said you make data-driven decisions,” said Anthony Accurso who read a statement from his mother, Christine Accurso. “But you don’t have the data necessary to make the decision tonight. Do you have access to our checking accounts or the balance sheets of every business in this town? “We are in the middle of a financial crisis
see BUDGETpage 7
$6.1M ambulance The water’s fine! plan considered BY CECILIA CHAN GSN Managing Editor
COMMUNITY......... 14 Penguin exhibit at HD SOUTH is pretty cool.
COMMUNITY....................................... 14 BUSINESS............................................. 18 OPINION......................................21
PUZZLE....................................... 22 CLASSIFIED..........................................24
G
ilbert appears headed toward operating its own ambulance service this coming fiscal year at a cost of $6.7 million. Funding for the service is included in the budget adopted last week as a placeholder until Council decides if it wants to keep or cut ties with private provider American Medical Response or AMR. Not everyone thinks it’s a good idea for the town. “I’m not in favor of the ambulance service,” said resident Khyl Powell at last week’s Council meeting. “I know there is a risk to the community when private industry may not be credible or reliable and that puts a risk to the citizens
see AMBULANCE page 8
Camilla and Kristian Burkett introduced their 9-month-okd baby, Charlie, to the pleasures of cooling off in the hot Arizona summers last week at Mesquite Aquatic Center. (Pablo Robles/GSN Staff Photographer)