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You are here: Home / Archives for Mayor Darryl Croft

Mayor Darryl Croft

Chino Council Focusing on Water, Roads

February 1, 2020 By quadcities Leave a Comment

As we welcome in the New Year, let’s look for great optimism in our country and the world. There is so much more that unites us than separates us, and the same is true for our communities. The recent groundbreaking at the airport for the new terminal and runway demonstrates progress that benefits our region.

We always appreciate citizens’ input. In fact, it is necessary for any elected official to receive input from our citizens if we want to be successful at what we are elected to do. As I wrap up my last year as the mayor in Chino Valley, I want my constituents to know that, even if we did not always agree, I have always respected and appreciated your point of view and your input. As a council, we receive input from so many of our citizens, and these guide our discussions and decisions when we talk about the town’s direction.

We will be embarking on a council retreat in February, giving council members an opportunity to discuss primarily two items: water and roads. These topics, as well as some other capital projects and economic development initiatives, constitute the bulk of what creates our strategic direction. Formalizing these items will be important; distractions with upcoming elections both locally and nationally could make leadership lose direction or be tempted to react instead of plan.

With the road maintenance property tax failing last year, we are struggling with ideas on how to take care of our roads with the limited funding we receive through the Highway User Revenue Funds (HURF), which is primarily the sales tax on gasoline. Because of the state’s other priorities, legislators have been able to sweep some or most of these funds through the years, creating a shortfall that is becoming sorely noticeable to the motoring public. I believe this is obvious locally but also elsewhere.

Although we will continue to look for ways to fund road maintenance, I consider this a state problem and not one we can solve without some help. At our retreat, we will revisit our budget and funding sources, and will try to squeeze whatever money we can to put toward our roads. In my effort to manage expectations, however, our citizens need to understand that although we may come up with some funding for the short term, the amount we need for maintenance of our 153+ miles of roads requires a permanent solution.

Our discussion on water at the retreat will focus mainly on our commercial corridor on Highway 89, and to begin identifying where the best use of our limited resources should go. The most responsible expansion of our infrastructure needs to be where the return appears to be the greatest. With the expansion of water and sewer costing about $1 million per mile, it is critical we study and understand where the growth will occur and where the best return on our investment will be.

These discussions will help us to formulate our strategic direction for the next several years, coupled with items already on our never-ending list. So, send us an email, give us a call, provide your input – we are happy to hear what you think and incorporate ideas that might prove helpful. My push has been moving the town forward responsibly and focusing on economic development to create jobs and a more sustainable Chino Valley economy. We’ve got some good housing projects in the hopper and a few commercial projects that we’re excited to see hit the finish line.

Next month, I will discuss some of the economic development items we’ve been working on and how they will help Chino Valley into the future. QCBN

By Darryl Croft

Darryl Croft is the mayor of Chino Valley.

Filed Under: Columnists Tagged With: Chino Valley, Croft, Mayor Darryl Croft

Keeping Chino Valley Clean

April 11, 2019 By quadcities Leave a Comment

In the last couple of years, I have worked diligently to reach out to citizens and hear their concerns for our community, Chino Valley. I have heard from people one-on-one, sometimes in group meetings, sometimes at a committee level, often at council meetings, and sometimes in targeted community outreach where I make myself available and have no topic or agenda, just schedule time to listen to what people have to say.

One of the items that continues to come up is cleaning up the town. With 64 square miles and one code compliance officer, the town was challenged to keep things tidy. It seemed the biggest complaints were weeds (especially after a big rain), abandoned vehicles and businesses that were storing things outdoors.

To that end, the council decided last year to fund an additional code compliance officer who could help develop a clean-up campaign and provide the additional manpower needed to communicate with our residents, businesses and community organizations as well as perform follow-up work.

The clean-up campaign has begun! And, Chino Valley is looking nice! We have split the campaign into two categories: commercial properties located along Highway 89 and residential properties. We are using two taglines with respect to the campaign.

“Keeping Chino Valley Business Friendly,” is the campaign to clean up commercial properties along Highway 89. The major areas of focus will be weeds, outdoor storage, outdoor sales, screening and car sales. The town will be working on voluntary compliance, attempting to work with the property owners to voluntarily clean up their properties. The compliance officer will try to meet directly with the property owner to explain possible violations, the code compliance process and council’s initiative to clean up our community. Only if the compliance officer is unable to get the property owner to work with him to clean up his property will we begin the compliance and citation process. We want a citation to be the last resort.

The second focus area of compliance is on residential property, titled “Be a Good Neighbor.” On the residential side, the town will be focusing on weeds, trash and debris around residences, inoperable and abandoned vehicles, fencing and exterior maintenance. This campaign will be segregated into eight sections within the town. Compliance officers will send out letters in advance and will leave “Friendly Reminders” as door hangers regarding violations after inspections are made. Again, only as a last resort will we begin the compliance and citation process in effort to gain the compliance requested by our citizens.

This community belongs to all of us and we all have a responsibility to maintain it. We hope this approach with our community is effective and maintains or enhances your community pride. At some point, we would like to see more community involvement when it comes to cleaning up public rights-of-way.

Highway 89, running down the center of town, is under the jurisdiction of the state (ADOT), and representatives have been trying to participate with resources when they can. For instance, in the last year they have worked on repairing and fixing sidewalks along the highway that had buckled or heaved. The roundabouts through town have a tendency to collect silt and other debris because of their curves. After speaking with the folks at ADOT, they have agreed to try and sweep Highway 89 and the roundabouts more frequently. The cleanliness of the town is important to people and businesses who want to relocate here, as well as our current residents.

If you have a code compliance question, complaint, or suggestion, you may call 928-636-4427. QCBN

By Darryl Croft

Darryl Croft is the mayor of Chino Valley.

 

 

Filed Under: Columnists Tagged With: Chino Valley, Darryl Croft, Mayor Darryl Croft

Paying for Chino Valley Road Maintenance

February 24, 2019 By quadcities 2 Comments

Happy New Year! I wish all in our community a prosperous and healthy year. 

The Town of Chino Valley has several initiatives it will be focusing on in 2019, and in today’s column, I’ll share one that I believe to be critical to economic development, property values and public safety. When I was elected as mayor more than two years ago, I participated in open community outreach sessions with Town Manager Cecilia Grittman. When we talked with our citizens about their concerns for our community, one of the main items that continued to come up was the condition of the town’s roads.

The Town of Chino Valley receives approximately $1 million a year from Highway User Revenue Funds (HURF) from the state. These funds come primarily from gas taxes. They have decreased through the years as the state struggles to fund the Arizona Department of Public Safety and its unfunded pension liability. Once the town pays for materials for the roads, equipment upkeep and road department salaries, we have approximately $400,000 left to put in our chip-seal program. 

Chino Valley has about 153 miles of roads; with $400,000 a year for chip sealing, we are only able to maintain about 3.5 miles a year. This calculates to almost 50 years for the town to complete a rotation on all roads within our corporate boundaries. A solid road maintenance program should have a chip seal rotation closer to seven years. 

The town’s Roads and Streets Committee, comprised of two Chino Valley Town Council members and five citizens who have road maintenance experience, has assisted in creating a road maintenance program that meets the seven-year rotation. Funding for this type of program then became the challenge. To fund a road maintenance program that treats every road at least once every seven years equates to $1.9 million a year. If we account for the HURF funding received, we are approximately $1.5 million short annually to successfully maintain our roads. 

After exploring different funding mechanisms: sales tax increase, bonds, etc., the committee felt the best mechanism is a property tax. Chino Valley incorporated in 1970 and has never had a property tax. We will be asking the voters to approve a property tax that would levy $1.5 million a year to fund a Road Maintenance Program. The money would be restricted and accounted for in a separate fund, which will be audited annually by independent auditors to ensure all funds are used for the program. We will also sunset the tax in 20 years, allowing voters to monitor progress and see that the money is invested as approved.

What does this mean to our taxpayers? To calculate what this means to you as a taxpayer, take the assessed value of your home (which is about 50 percent of the market value) and multiply it by 10 percent. That figure is the net assessed value. If you take the net assessed value. Multiply it by 1.97 percent, you will get the annual tax. The average amount for a $200,000 home would be $197 a year; less than a dollar a day. Commercial properties use the same formula, except the assessment is 18 percent, not 10 percent. 

The Town Council and I feel this is a responsible and reasonable way to fund our roads, and hope you support it. The mail-in election will be held in May. I am available to answer additional questions or speak to any neighborhood group or association. Please contact our Town Hall at 928-636-2646.

Again, I wish you a happy and healthy 2019. QCBN

By Darryl Croft  

Darryl Croft is the mayor of Chino Valley.  

Filed Under: Columnists Tagged With: Chino Valley, mayor, Mayor Darryl Croft

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