Phoenix to sell park land to repay golf course debt

It’s a partial victory for a group of citizen activists who, for years, have chastised the council’s 2013 decision to use money from the Phoenix Parks and Preserve Initiative to erase debt from the city’s struggling public golf courses.

Some residents accused the city of betraying the will of voters who authorized a special tax to fund parks, and they have considered suing the city, arguing the city took the park funds illegally.

PREVIOUSLY: $15M for parks went to Phoenix golf courses — will parks be repaid?

“You gave the middle finger salute to the citizens of the city of Phoenix and then stuck the finger in their eye,” Greta Rogers, an activist who’s challenged the financial maneuver, told the council. “I want this money repaid in full.”

But city officials said the transfer of funds was “legally sound” because the money was “used to preserve, protect, and maintain recreation facilities and open space,” according to a council agenda report.

City Manager Ed Zuercher said Thursday that it’s “absolutely untrue” that the money was taken illegally. He added, “We maybe have a difference in legal opinions … but this is not about breaking the law in any way.”

Some council members said Wednesday’s vote is a step in the right direction to assure money gets returned to the parks-initiative fund, which the city can use to pay for a variety of parks and trail improvements.

Councilmen Michael Nowakowski, Jim Waring and Sal DiCiccio voted against the item. All talked about the need to repay the parks money, but raised concerns about the city’s plan to do it.

DiCiccio said the city shouldn’t move anything forward until there’s a serious plan to repay all the money. Nowakowski said he was uncomfortable about unanswered questions regarding which properties would be sold. Waring said he, too, felt there’s too much uncertainty about the plan.

The vote created a city policy stating that some of the money will be repaid by selling unneeded parks properties. Those properties are supposed to be sold within five years.

Mayor Greg Stanton, Vice Mayor Laura Pastor and council members Kate Gallego, Daniel Valeneuzla, Thelda Williams and Debra Stark supported the policy. In the fall, they will discuss what other city land could be sold to repay the parks fund.

Plan to repay half of $15 million

So far, the Parks and Recreation Department is working to sell two vacant lots: a lot adjacent to the Rose Mofford Sports Complex near the Metrocenter Mall, worth at least $1.48 million; and a lot next to Kuban Park, but the city hasn’t released that appraisal yet.

The city is selling the properties through a public-bid process.

Phoenix has a list of eight additional parks properties that officials say the city doesn’t need and could sell to help repay the money. That list wasn’t immediately available Thursday.

Zuercher said the city estimates those unneeded parks department properties are worth about $7.5 million combined. When the city might sell those properties is unclear.

But activists and some council members said a more specific repayment plan is needed. Rogers said she and other residents will present the city with a full repayment plan in the fall. She wants the city to sign a contract with ironclad terms.

“If we don’t have a contract, nothing will ever happen,” Rogers told The Arizona Republic. “This city will welsh every minute they can.”

How golf dispute started

Rogers said the dispute is about respecting the will of voters who authorized the Phoenix Parks and Preserve Initiative.

Nearly a decade ago, city voters overwhelmingly approved the initiative to extend a special sales tax to fund parks and preserves. The tax amounts to one cent for every $10 purchase.

Ballot language for the 2008 Phoenix Parks and Preserve Initiative, which extended the tax for 30 years, stated the money would pay to maintain, improve and expand green spaces and desert trails. It didn’t say anything about golf courses or paying off debt.

But Phoenix leaders soon found an unexpected use for the money: debt-ridden city golf courses. Amid a national decline in the popularity of golf, the city’ssix municipal courses had consistently lost money since 1998.