Civil Discourse /
Grant County Tax Increase & “The Quality of Life”

Welcome to Civil Discourse with your host, Jamie Newton.

This installment of Civil Discourse is a panel discussion regarding a tax increase to fund “Quality of Life” projects put before the voters in a special mail in ballot election that has stirred controversy in several areas including…

• The lack of public input for the “five proposed projects” which have received criticism from a variety of sources
• The lack of statistical information and analysis to justify the projects.
• The language of the ballot itself which makes no mention of the five proposed projects and apparently makes no legal guarantee that the tax will be used for those projects but does empower the county on a range of capital outlay projects described in the broadest terms including prisons and water related projects in the midst of serious attempts to divert water from the Gila River to points potentially as far away as Las Cruces or even Texas.
• The lack of a sunset provision on this regressive tax once the proposed projects are completed.
• Increasing scrutiny and criticism of the Grant County Commission who own Gila Regional Medical Center and are concurrently facing major cuts in employee earnings and hours along with the resignation of several hospital administrators, thereby calling their oversight and financial controls into question.

Jamie will moderate a discussion on these and related issues with

• Joseph Shepard – WNMU president
• Gordon West – Local business owner and Chair of the Green Chamber of Commerce and
• Shelby Hallmark – Grant County resident and member of the Progressive Voters Alliance of Grant County

Additional programs and information on this topic can be found here and here.

This program aired live on Friday 9 August 2013 at 10 am and will be rebroadcast…

• Saturday & Sunday at 11 am
• Monday at 10 am

or you can listen any time via this link…

Civil Discourse / Grant County Tax Increase & “The Quality of Life”