By Co-Chairs Andrea Alley, Dana Close, Mike Norton, Dennis Robbins, Paula Sturgeon
“For The Best Scottsdale”, a Political Action Committee
“Early 2019, our group formed the Political Action Committee that supported our City’s efforts to approve General Obligation Bonds funding Capital Improvements in our City. As we campaigned, we made some strong commitments to voters, as did our City Council members and City Officers.
We promised that tax rates would not go up, that total Bond indebtedness would not go up, and that the tax burden on Scottsdale residents would not increase. Two years later it is time to look back. Did the City deliver as promised?
We just reviewed the City’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and the State’s Dept. of Revenue Bond Obligation Report for the Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2021. We are proud that our City leaders delivered. All of those commitments become reality.
Scottsdale’s G.O. Bond obligations ended the year at $448 Million. Only $1,826 of Debt Per Capita, making Scottsdale one of the least debt-burdened Major Cities in the County. Nine cities have 40% to 500% more debt per capita than Scottsdale. Buckeye and Chandler come in slightly below us.
On top of the promises from 2019, the City has done a great job of managing the issuance of new bonds, and the refinance of old bonds. Our interest rate for Bonds issued in FY2021 dropped to about 1.5%. Taxes are now being used overwhelmingly to retire Principal rather than interest costs.
More good news – While it was not promised, throughout 2019 we hoped that the City would be able to sell 40 Acres of excess land along Bell Road near WestWorld. By selling that land, old debt associated with its purchase and the interest on that debt would be retired and cash would be generated. We are extremely happy to see that the City is now pursuing an Auction of that land to assure the highest proceeds from the Sale possible.
Too often it becomes almost fashionable to bash our City claiming poor management. Please join us in thanking our leaders for giving us good reason to trust our Scottsdale City Officers.
Finally, no one is talking about it yet, but the 2019 Bond funded only some of the Capital Improvements our City requires. Because it appears that our G.O. Bonds will be retired sooner than we had expected, we can also reopen discussions about when we should start making the rest of the improvements and how we should fund them.