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SE Valley mayors: Legislature damaging state economy

by Gary Nelson - Dec. 13, 2010 10:57 AM

The Arizona Republic

Southeast Valley mayors blamed the Legislature last week for damaging Arizona's economy through its immigration and budget policies.

But Mesa Mayor Scott Smith said some lawmakers are beginning to realize they need to play a more positive role in economic development.

Their comments came during a forum hosted by Mike Ryan, general manager for community editions of The Arizona Republic in Chandler's new City Hall.

The mayors agreed that cities are the primary incubators of economic activity, but if the Legislature begins to siphon cities' revenue to cover Arizona's budget gap, the state will suffer even more economic damage.

"The easiest way to create uncertainty, to cut off new investment, is to create a scenario where the basic services in the cities are at risk," Smith said. "Companies do not come to cities that can't provide basic services." [ "investment" is a code word for "taxes" and "pork belly spending" ]

Gilbert Mayor John Lewis said, for example, that state shared revenue accounts for 30 percent of his town's budget. [ OK jerk if you want more revenue raise taxes by 30 percent! ]

Although he and Chandler's Boyd Dunn believe most legislators are willing to leave shared revenue alone, Hugh Hallman of Tempe said the damage inflicted by the Legislature already has been profound.

He hammered Arizona's employer sanctions law, which was passed by the Republican Legislature and signed by Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano in 2007. The law punishes companies for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants but has resulted in only two convictions.

"The uncertainty created by that one law alone drove investment from coming to the state," Hallman said.

"When making those kinds of decisions," he said, "our legislators have got to take responsibility for the unintended consequences of creating uncertainty in our markets, which undermines our ability to have a strong economy." [ Translation - We are p*ssed because you cut back the pork you shovel to the city governments! ]

Hallman said mayors must use their offices as "bully pulpits to inform our electorate, when making decisions on who should be governor, when making decisions on who should be legislators, you've got to understand that it's more complicated than some bumper sticker. Because that bumper-sticker stuff is killing us." [ Translation - Mayor Hallman thinks us voters are too stupid to decide who to vote for governor and that we should vote for whomever he tells us to vote for! F* you Mayor Hallman! ]

Smith said he has spoken with lawmakers "who understand it has not been a good environment and it has been partially because of the distractions, let's say."

With Arizona continuing to struggle economically, none of the four mayors could offer a rosy outlook for their cities' budgets this coming year.

Lewis was the most optimistic. "The sun is peeking through occasionally," he said, noting that retail sales and home construction are up in Gilbert.

"The city of Chandler has created more jobs in the past year than we have created in a long time," Dunn said, but he said Chandler's budget outlook still depends on the state as a whole.

Hallman was encouraged by what he called "a very strong market for commercial and retail properties" in Tempe.

"The economy, I think, looks stable at the moment," Hallman said. "But we're going to stay the course and maintain a very solid fiscally conservative budget." [ Listen to Mayor Hallman sling the BS! He wants to tax the krap out of us, while at the same time pretending to be fiscally conservative! Mayor Hallman is a hypocrite! ]

Smith, whose tenure has been marked by repeated rounds of budget cuts, said Mesa is planning for state shared revenue to dip because there's a two-year lag before cities get their money. That means cities are about to get hammered - again - by fallout from the massive drop in sales taxes collected in Arizona in 2008 and 2009.

The forum will be televised on the municipal Channel 11 stations in all four communities at various times over the next few weeks. Check local listings for times. [ Get ready to listen to some propaganda you paid to create to help reelect us royal rulers! ]