By Jan Dubauskas
Thank you!!! It was one year ago today – January 14, 2025 – that we took the oath of office to serve you on Scottsdale City Council. It was a special and surreal moment to stand with my colleagues, family, friends, and fellow residents with gratitude and hope in our hearts.
Thank you for your trust and confidence. This year has been jam-packed with policy and budget considerations, teamwork, ribbon cuttings, committee meetings, resident outreach, business development, constituent services, and more.
Right away, your Council majority dug in and got to work focusing the city on your everyday issues. And wow – we delivered results for YOU.
On this 1-year anniversary, it’s a real pleasure to provide you with a partial list of the work your Council majority has done for you over the course of the last year, a preview for what’s to come – and a very special invitation!
In 2025, your Council majority:
Hired Strong City Manager. Greg Caton treats the city like a business. He immediately reorganized and restructured the City Manager’s office by reducing redundant layers of management. He restructured city departments to focus on efficiency and transparency, stopping runaway cost increases on capital projects. And he implemented a new Constituent Services team that resolved over 500 resident issues in just the first 9 months! (Have an issue for Constituent Services? Email: constituentservices@scottsdaleaz.gov)
Restored Common Sense. Your city should be focused on delivering basic city services to you, not imposing woke ideology that bloats budgets and creates inefficiencies. We returned employees to work at the office, eliminated DEI, reversed the Scottsdale Green New Deal, canceled the ideological roundabout on Scottsdale Rd & Dynamite, and stopped unnecessary road-diets that take away your car lanes.
2025/2026 Budget. We focused your tax dollars on public safety, potholes, and parks.
- We made historic investments in your public safety to ensure our long-term security. We funded: $50M to police pensions, ensured police and fire salaries will be top 3 in the valley (ensuring competitive pay to attract and retain the best police and fire in Scottsdale), added 44 FTE’s to new the new Scottsdale Fire ambulance service.
- Our roads deteriorated dramatically over the last several years. Scottsdale deserves better – we increased road improvement budget from $17M to $42M.
- Due to our financial strength, we reduced your property tax rate by 2.1% from 9.33% to 9.12%.
Old Town Scottsdale Improvements. Our charming Old Town Scottsdale is getting lots of attention from your Council majority. We love Old Town and want to see it at it’s best!
- Streetscape beautification – $2M: new trees, street furniture, wayfinding, and monument signs.
- Pavement improvement – $7M – to roads and alleys.
- Old Town Marketing Agreement – brought marketing in-house doubling our dollars on ads instead of overhead.
- $125k grant to Scottsdale Gallery Assn for Old Town marketing. The SGA requested $125k but the Tourism Development Commission only approved $75k. When it came to Council, I recommended grant SGA request and my colleagues agreed.
Demand High-Quality Development. With diminishing state trust land and increasing traffic, it is important that we carefully consider each and every project moving forward.
- Axon. Unfortunately, 1200 housing units were approved by four members of Council. And with their vote, the resident’s certified voter referendum was canceled.
- BB Living at Cavasson. I appealed the design review board’s approval of BB Living at Cavasson and my colleagues agreed we could do better. Coming back to Council for approval, the applicant significantly improved design to meet the high quality expected in the area.
Jan’s Ordinances. My colleagues agreed – we can improve traffic, child safety and pedestrian safety.
- Improve Traffic. There were lots of traffic barriers blocking traffic and yet no work was being done. Now, unneeded traffic barriers blocking traffic must be removed or face $500/$1000 fines.
- Child Safety. We passed an ordinance against smoking within 50 feet of a city of Scottsdale playground – $100 fine.
- Pedestrian Safety. No standing on city medians. We passed an ordinance that prevents people from standing on city medians.
Jan’s Council Committees. It is my honor to serve as Chairwoman of the Public Safety Committee, where we work with Scottsdale Police Department, Scottsdale Fire Department, and the Prosecutor’s Office to deliver you the safest city possible. It is a real pleasure to serve on the Economic Development Committee where we work with and encourage local businesses.
Jan’s Volunteer Work. Volunteering for Scottsdale’s Adopt-A-Road, Scottsdale Unified School District Wellness Committee, Palo Verde Republican Women 3rd Vice Chair for charitable giving, and Scottsdale Food Bank are a real pleasure!
As you may know, we received generous donations from the Scottsdale Fire Fighters Association, Honor Health, and the Blue Zones Project and raised over $29k for a refrigerated truck for Scottsdale Food Bank that will be able to pick up more fresh food for residents in need.
Pheeeeew!!! We have been busy!
Moving into 2026, you’ll see me focused on:
- Efficiency. Efficient operation of the city government, ensuring wise use of your tax dollars.
- Water. Expect attention to be on Scottsdale water, the CAP decisions, and next steps for Scottsdale.
- Old Town Scottsdale. Let’s continue to make improvements that maintain our charm and bring visitors with $$ to spend.
- Development. Very carefully considering only high-quality development projects that add value to our community.
- Roads. We will continue to identify areas in need to improve our roads and reduce traffic.
- Celebrate! We will celebrate Scottsdale’s 75th year of incorporation and the United States 250th year! Learn more here.
As you can see, we made tremendous progress in 2025 restoring your city back to you! And yet, these impactful changes can all be undone in the 2026 City Council election. It is more important than ever that we continue our work by maintaining your Council majority.
To continue this incredible work, please join us on January 26th at 6pm for a fundraiser in support these three strong candidates for Scottsdale City Council:
Scottsdale City Councilman Barry Graham
Website: Barry Graham – Residents First – Welcome
Sign Barry’s Online Petition – Click here
Former Scottsdale City Councilman Bob Littlefield
Website: Bob Littlefield
Sign Bob’s Online Petition – Click here
Former State Senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita
Website: Michelle Ugenti-Rita – for Scottsdale City Council
Sign Michelle’s Online Petition – Click here
