A Sonoran Truth Editorial by Gracie O’Malley, April 21, 2015
Over the past few years, many have touted the virtues of Cave Creek’s opportunity to acquire 4,000 acres of Open Space from the State Land Trust for $400-500 an acre.
But this acquisition is nothing more than a mirage in the desert.
It will never happen and here’s why:
By law, the State Trust Land is required to get the highest and best value for state land, as the proceeds from land sales pays for public education. Not long ago, Phoenix paid approximately $15,588 per acre for state trust land in the vicinity of the state trust land annexed by Cave Creek. 4,000 acres @ $15,588 an acre is ~$63.5 million.
Please remember that prior counsels, the Zombie Councils of which Steve La Mar and Dick Esser were lead Zombies, engaged in a huge infrastructure expansion for water and sewer costing the Town $62 Million as part of the annexation agreement. LaMar admits it almost bankrupted Cave Creek in 2009.
La Mar, now looking to drive Cave Creek right off the cliff, claims we must have this Open Space even if we have to pay for it.
Zombie Councils are the masters of crisis management. They feed us poop and keep us in the dark then knee jerk us from one crisis to another. That’s the legacy of Mayor Francia.
The reality is that we are in a drought. Water is scarce and Cave Creek’s water supply is critically low. Rather than require other land developments like Cahava Springs to pitch in to improve our water and sewer situation, the Town is apparently promoting a Papal State where Cahava Springs would be its own utility district apart from the Town.
Currently, every property owner in Cave Creek is on the hook for servicing the State Trust land annexation with water and sewer regardless of whether the town ever purchases this land or not, except apparently Cahava Springs. By creating a separate utility district, Cahava Springs would be exempt from this dead weight obligation imposed upon us by the Zombie Councils.
We are buried in debt and made huge commitments mostly associated with the annexation requirements. Remember, we had to demonstrate that we could supply water and sewer to the annexed land, so we bought water companies for ten times their value and built a brand new sewer plant, alias the”water ranch”, for $29 million to serve the high density needs of the future development associated with the annexation.
Obviously, there is absolutely no way Cave Creek can afford to buy 4,000 acres for $63.5 million unless the Zombies have friends with HUGE pockets who are willing to donate $63.5 Million to the Town as a tax write off.
Since a charitable contribution is unlikely, it appears that the sitting Zombie Town Council will plunge our town deeper in debt by borrowing the money to purchase this land with no viable way to pay back the loan, except imposing property taxes.
It’s a train wreck. Be leery of our local newspaper that will bombard us with a steady stream of lies to justify acquiring the Open Space.
The only way to avoid this train wreck is for the Town to unite and stop the Dark Side Zombies dead in their tracks.
GRACIE O’MALLEY