The Camp Verde Town Council put its support behind a number of resolutions in support of potential state legislative proposals at the recent annual conference of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, held at the end of August in Oro Valley.
The league is a group comprised of representatives from municipalities across the state that works to further the interests of local Arizona governments at the state and federal level.
The Town Council agreed to support pushing for a measure that would make it easier for municipalities to annex additional territories.
Calling the current process “cumbersome,” the resolution called for making the entire procedure more flexible.
The town also supported an effort to “prohibit fire districts from annexing areas inside a municipal planning area.”
“This is a problem in rapidly growing cities, primarily in those located in the urban areas of the state,” the proposal stated. “When fire districts annex without regard to municipal plans, a city or town and its residents occur additional costs. The proposed legislation treats these annexations as other intergovernmental annexations, which require that governments consult and agree.”
The Town Council was also in favor of measures that allow towns and cities to freeze property tax levels in certain cases and a proposal to create street light improvement districts.
The Town Council had mixed feelings about a proposal, put forward by Yuma and Apache Junction, to “place reasonable limits on the frequency of requests for public records and on requests that are overbroad or abusive.”
According to the resolution, “Such limitations mainly include limiting the numbers of requests from individuals or groups that tie up personnel and resources at a significant cost and which also result in citizens who need information having to wait extended periods of time behind these abusive requestors.”
Councilwoman Jackie Baker said that while some people do abuse the system, it’s government’s job to provide information to citizens.
“We are the sunshine law state,” Baker said. “The taxpayers are already paying for this.”
The Town Council opposed a measure that would establish a pilot program that would require commercial trucks to stick to the right two lanes of traffic on a road with three or more lanes in each direction.
Town Manager Russ Martin said it wasn’t really an issue here. Martin also pointed out that the Arizona Department of Transportation is already building an extra climbing lane for trucks heading up Copper Canyon on I-17.
“The pilot problem would cost money, probably a significant cost,” Martin said. “ADOT doesn’t have enough money as it is to pay the state patrol without taking our [Highway User Revenue] funds.”
The Town Council also supported proposals to insure restitution for victims of graffiti, a request for the state to stop raiding highway user revenue funds and to restore the funds to 2008 levels and to support improving Arizona’s ports of entry along the Mexican border.
Other issues supported by the town included some tax issues, including potentially collecting tax from internet sales as online transactions become more and more common.
