Water company purchase was 'fiscally irresponsible'

On behalf of many Cave Creek residents, we would like to express gratitude for the efforts made by Commissioner Kris Mayes, and the Arizona Corporation Commission generally, in trying to slow down and analyze what has been happening with the Desert Hills Water Company.

With no consultation with the residents of this town, the council has once again jumped into the fray of additional debt. It has been fiscally irresponsible to add $2.5 million dollars of debt to our financial burden for services which will not serve our residents, nor produce a cash surplus to reduce costs. Indeed, we believe the acquisition will expand even more a disproportionately large bureaucracy for a small town of 4,400 residents, plus the cost of third party administrators.

Even more distressing is the continuing lack of data provided to the citizens. No financial analysis in depth has been offered to us to debate and discuss, and the use of emergency ordinances denies us even the ability of referring the question to the residents.

What is even more distressingis the personal attack on Commissioner Mayes, who has been faithful to the needs of our semi‑rural area in many ways. Her on‑target concerns about the wisdom, and propriety, of such a hasty purchase was denounced by present and past town management in the typical personal attacks that have become their trademark when someone disagrees with them.

We urge people in this area to support Commissioner Kris Mayes and the ACC efforts to give a true review of this issue. Perhaps we will see more financial disclosure to the public from the town than from the past owner of the DHWC, but we doubt it. Creekers should be concerned about the size of the new debt attributable to each household.

Sara & John Vannucci

Cave Creek