Consignment surge / P. 17
Full reopening set / P. 9
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
NEWS ........................ 3 Fan limits set on Mesa fall sports.
COMMUNITY ......... 13 Mesa woman turns 106.
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE THE EAST VALLEY) | TheMesaTribune.com
Sunday, September 27, 2020
Mesa takes 1st step toward utility rate hikes BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
M
esa City Council took the �irst step toward raising utility rates incrementally but the debate on the proposed increase is still at least two months away. An ordinance proposing the increase is to be introduced Nov. 16 for a public hearing on Dec. 1. Any decision by Council would take effect next Jan. 1. “We are also at the beginning of an annual review process to discuss utility rates,” Mayor John Giles said, adding the notice followed “a high-level overview of staff recommendations” and that full details of those recommendations would be released In late October. “We are months away from any action on this topic and all factors will be considered,” he said. Giles said he is focused on averting a poten-
tial crisis in utility cutoffs and evictions with thousands of cutoffs possible when a moratorium expires Thursday. He said preventing the cutoffs and helping renters avoid eviction through use of federal pandemic-relief funds are his priority, but that the council will address the utility rates next month. The eviction prevention hotline number is 480-644-5440. “Right now, we are very focused on making sure Mesa residents are aware of the Utility Assistance and other programs that are available to help with �inancial challenges brought on by the pandemic,’’ Giles said in a statement. Budget of�icials recommended a series of 1.5 percent increases in water rates per year during a �ive-year planning period but the upcoming council vote will apply only to the present 2020-2021 �iscal year with the rates issue reviewed yearly. The city’s relatively high water rates have
generated controversy in the past. A chart on the city’s website shows Mesa with the highest water rate in the Valley while the overall cost of utilities is somewhat less glaring in comparison with other cities. The utility analysis is based on the expectation that costs are bound to go up as the city grows, especially in east Mesa, and either expands or upgrades infrastructure. A decision to postpone the inevitable for two years and keep the present rates unchanged would eventually clobber customers with a nine percent increase for residential water users in �iscal years 2023-2024 and 2024-25, according to a forecast by Mesa’s Of�ice of Management and Budget. Non-residential water customers would be hit even harder with an 11 percent increase. But the chart containing these hikes is
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25 years later, Sunset Limited mystery still unsolved
SPORTS ................. 19 Dobson alum's many hats at ASU.
GET OUT ............... 20 EV Halloween tradition still alive. COMMUNITY ............................... 13 BUSINESS ..................................... 17 OPINION ....................................... 18 SPORTS ...................................... 19 GETOUT...................................... 20 PUZZLES ...................................... 22 CLASSIFIED ................................. 24 Zone 1
BY GARY NELSON Tribune Contributor
A
little before midnight on Sunday, Oct. 8, 1995, an Amtrak passenger train called the Sunset Limited pulled out of Phoenix under a full desert moon, heading west. Its two locomotives pulled 12 cars. There were 268 souls on board, of whom 20 were Amtrak crew members. Earlier they had cruised through Mesa and Tempe, passing Sun Devil Stadium and crossing an arid riverbed that was still more than three years away from becoming Tempe Town Lake. Before long the train was churning through the Maricopa County desert, bound for Los Angeles after originating in Miami. The passengers who were still awake could
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The derailment of an Amtrak passenger train 25 years ago a few hours after it passed through the East Valley remains an unsolved mystery of domestic terrorism. (Special to the Tribune)