Requests to not increase taxes and delay capital construction until a strategic plan is in place rejected
At the District Governing Board’s May 19, 2015 meeting, four recommendations came from the Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee. The seven member committee consists of outstanding residents with educational backgrounds and interests from Sedona, the Verde Valley and the Yavapai-Apache Nation. The recommendations were clear.
1. Delay approval of the capital improvement portion of the 2015-2016 budget until the District Governing Board has the recommendations of the Verde Valley strategic plan currently being developed.
2. Increase the marketing and recruitment efforts in the Verde Valley by implementing a program of continuous and direct interaction with students and their parents to seek students’ wants and aptitudes.
3. Amend the Campus Master Plan to remove all language about divesting of the Sedona Campus.
4. Do not raise property taxes this year.
- “BOSS” Pat McCarver, Governing Board Chair
Recommendations 1 and 4 were the most important. At the Governing Board meeting on Tuesday, the three members from the Prescott/Prescott Valley areas on the 5 member Board voted to raise taxes and approved the capital budget. The two representatives representing Sedona and the Verde Valley voted in favor of the Committee’s recommendations.
Most of the hard work of the Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee with these votes has turned out to be in vain when it comes to the most important recommendations it made to the Governing Board. As Governing Board Chair Pat McCarver has expressed clearly to the Committee, we are the “BOSS.” That means the trio making up a majority of members from the West side of the County are in control of matters—not anyone from Sedona or the Verde Valley.