Neighbors help out: 5 * Secret stream: 17 * Missing a billion years: 18 ARIZONA NEWSPAPERS AND NATIONAL LOCAL MEDIA ASSOCIATIONS’ NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR
PAYSON ROUNDUP
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T u esday | F e b r u ary 7 , 2 0 1 7 | P A Y S O N , A R I Z O N A
payson.com
Payson contemplates sales tax hike Police, fire pensions create $500,000 budget crisis
by
Alexis Bechman
roundup staff reporter
Payson faces a massive bill due to rising police and fire pension costs, worn out facilities and a laundry list of projects, but has no money to fund the new costs. So the Payson Town Council is thinking of ways to raise capital — including a big jump in the sales tax, according to the discussion at a recent council retreat. “I know people don’t like taxes, but if we want certain services we have to raise taxes,” said LaRon Garrett, town manager. Town staff say the recession squeezed all the cuts out of the town budget, leaving the town operating on
a shoestring. The town’s General Fund Budget totals about $13 million — or about $900 per resident. Raising the town’s sales tax 1 cent was a popular idea among the councilors. Currently, the town collects 2.12 percent on retail sales. If the town increased the sales tax 1 percent to 3.12 percent, it would bring in an estimated additional $3 million annually — enough to solve most the town’s budget woes. The town’s required contribution to the state Public Safety Personnel Retirement System represents one major source of the problem. Next fiscal year, the town must pay an additional
$500,000 into the PSPRS, money it didn’t plan to spend. Hope Cribb, acting CFO, said she has no idea how the town will come up with that money. Garrett said cities and towns across the state are scrambling to cover similar bills. Some cities, like Phoenix, are reportedly cutting costs 10 percent across the board, while other towns, like Prescott, are considering sales tax increases. Garrett said the PSPRS is underfunded due to inadequate returns on investments. Payson’s unfunded PSPRS liability is estimated at
• See Payson sales tax, page 9
Protests, politics, slow rush to repeal by
Peter Aleshire
roundup editor
Protests, politics and fiscal realities appear to have slowed the headlong rush to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Protests throughout the country — including Payson — have brought pressure to bear on Congress to enact a replacement before scrapping the Affordable Care Act, which provides coverage to some 30 million Americans. Moreover, President Trump who vowed to immediately repeal the ACA on his first day in office, has since said he wants to keep key elements of the reform package — including coverage of pre-existing conditions. In office, he tweeted he would provide “insurance for everybody” and lower drug prices. “It’ll be another plan. But they’ll be beautifully covered. I don’t want single-payer. What I want to do is to be able to take care of people.” But the seemingly contradictory promises and the lack of a detailed alternative has slowed the move toward repeal and unsettled the health insurance markets. Leading Republicans in Congress are now talking about more of a piecemeal approach, spread over the next few years. The Arizona Alliance for Healthcare Security has staged demonstrations and issued estimates that an abrupt repeal of the Affordable Care Act would cost more than 700,000 of the state’s residents their health coverage obtained through the federal exchanges. Another 1 million residents could lose coverage for pre-existing conditions. The repeal could also cost the state about $10 billion in financial assistance
from the federal government to reduce the cost of premiums. Some 2 million residents could lose coverage if the repeal also affects the expansion of the federally subsidized Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. DJ Quinlan, spokesman for the Arizona-based Alliance for Healthcare Security, said “despite six years of condemning the Affordable Care Act, the Republicans have not articulated a plan to replace it. Republicans need to remember the china-shop rule: you break it, you bought it. Some Republicans in Congress insist no one will lose coverage. OK. Let’s see the plan. Let’s see it before you repeal Proposals to repeal the Affordable Care Act before putting in place a replacement have spurred protests. Obamacare.” Medicare ‘donut hole’ Also controversial is the possible repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s provisions that eliminated the “donut hole” prescription drug coverage gap for Medicare, which provides health care for retirees. The taxes on high-income earners and reduced subsidies for some Medicare programs included in the ACA covered the cost of improved prescription drug coverage for seniors. Those provisions have so-far saved Medicare recipients $26 billion. That includes $460 million in savings for 94,000 Arizona retirees, according to the Doug Hart, president of the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans. The savings average about $1,000 per recipient annually. Polls suggest that although voters
Protesters take to the street by
Michele Nelson
roundup staff reporter
Roughly 60 people from diverse backgrounds showed up on Feb. 2 at the Gila County offices in Payson to protest for health care, Social Security, women’s rights, education and the environment. Political beliefs ran from Democratic to Independent with a smattering of “Reforming Republicans,” as some called themselves, thrown in. While the protesters waved signs outside, inside the county offices leaders of the local Women’s Democratic Party Club met with Penny Pew, the Gila County representative for Paul Gosar, the congressman for the area. Gosar himself did not have time See Obamacare repeal, page 9 in his schedule to meet with the
Democrats, said Diane Green, co-president of the Women’s Democratic Party, but she said the group wanted him to know a few things. “We wanted to let him know there are Democrats in Payson — (and) we don’t like his politics,” said Green. Green said Pew’s reception of their ideas was encouraging, but Pew made it clear she wanted nothing to do with the Roundup. “This is not open to the press,” she told a reporter. Green said that Pew was open to the women’s concerns.
“She was very receptive and pledged to take our concerns back to our representative,” said Green. Outside the meeting, the protesters received honks and yells of support from vehicles passing by on Highway 260. President of the Rim Country Democrats George Schriner said it’s time to make change. “It’s time we get out and voice our opinions,” he said. Surrounding him, protesters carried
• See Payson protesters, page 2
Messy Pony Express gallops into town History by
•
Alexis Bechman
roundup staff reporter
During the day, Justin Deaton wears a badge at the Payson Police Department. He’s often the first through the door during drug searches and the sniper on SWAT missions. But once a year, Deaton wears a very different hat as a rider with the Hashknife Pony Express, the longest Pony Express route still sanctioned by the U.S. Postal Service and the only one left in the world. Deaton trades in his cruiser for a saddle on his American quarter horse Korey for the three-day journey as he and 30 riders travel 200 miles from Holbrook to Scottsdale to deliver the mail. As the men ride into each town along the route, including Payson’s Post Office Feb. 8, it is the look on the children’s faces that gets the riders every time. For many, it is their first time seeing a cowboy on horseback and their first time petting a horse, Deaton said. Preserving this western heritage, which is dying out, is one reason the riders return year after year. Delivering the mail by horseback is an American tradition established in 1860 and one the Hashknife revives every year as they ride, rain or shine, across Arizona. For Deaton, who grew up in Rim Country on a farm and owns several acres today where he is raising his
Photo courtesy of Ginger Liddell
Rebekah Rice, Neveah Nichols, Darby MacFarlane, Krystal Nash, Faith Haught, Elly Schreur, Stone Best, Waylon Ralston and Hayze Chilson. The picture in front of the Capitol also had Angus MacFarlane, a parent chaperone in Washington, D.C. for the presidential inauguration. by
Photo courtesy of DJ Craig
Justin Deaton (left) will be riding with the Hashknife Pony Express for the 59th annual ride. three daughters, rodeo is a way of life. Deaton roped for many years, his wife was a Pro Rodeo queen and his daughters run barrels today. “As cliché as it sounds, it is a way of life — we have always done it,” he said. As a child, Deaton always had a
THE WEATHER
volume 27, no. 11
Michele Nelson
roundup staff reporter
Outlook: Mostly cloudy Tuesday with a slight chance for rain. Mostly sunny the rest of the week with highs in the mid 60s. Another chance for showers by Saturday. See page 10
See our ad and upcoming events on page 18
rope in his hand and was either roping the bar stools or the sofa. After graduating from high school, Deaton moved to Flagstaff and continued to rope. When he decided to return home to raise his family, he got a job at the Payson Police Department, following in his grandfather’s shoes, who worked 27 years with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, mostly as a plain clothes narcotics detective. For several years, his friend Travis Chavez approached him to ride with
• See Hashknife, page 10
Nine Rim Country Middle School students witnessed the inauguration of the 45th president of the United States in January. Student government and leadership class adviser Ginger Liddell took nine students to Washington, D.C. from Jan. 18 to Jan. 22 to wander the capital’s sights and attend the festivities. They even got an interview in with Channel 12 News that has already aired. Rebekah Rice, Neveah Nichols, Darby MacFarlane, Krystal Nash, Faith Haught, Elly Schreur, Stone Best, Waylon Ralston and Hayze Chilson, along with Liddell and chaperone Angus MacFarlane hit the ground running when they arrived by touring Mount Vernon. The day before the inauguration, the RCMS students went to government offices and landmarks including the Supreme Court, Library of Congress, Capitol, White House, Washington Monument, Holocaust Museum, and the
Students witness inauguration, protests and aftermath
• See RCMS Students, page 2