Desert Messenger

October 18, 2023 ww.DesertMessenger.com 7 Opinions expressed in letters to the editor do not necessarily represent those of the Desert Messenger. letters to the editor VOTE ON NOVEMBER 7TH I will attempt to cover 3 important issues: 1) Vote! If you are a registered voter in the Town of Quartzsite, it is very important that you get out and vote on November 7th. Voting is your Constitutional Duty and your Right, so get out and vote. 2) Prop 401. YES! The State imposed a spending limitation for Quartzsite because of the undercount of the 2020 Census. The town has money in the Bank that it normally would budget for projects for the community. But because of the census numbers, the State has limited how much of the money in the bank the Town can spend. If Prop 401 passes, the Town can spend the money needed for more projects to benefi t Quartzsite. Your property or sales taxes will NOT go up if Prop 401 passes. If the temporary one-year spending cap is not passed, then no matter who is in offi ce the spending cap will stay in place, and there's a strong possi- bility there may need to be services and employees cut. It's very important that the voters approve Prop 401. There are those who may twist things and say things that are not true. The fact is the Town has the money. We need to have the spending cap lifted so we can con- tinue the projects that are already started for the improvement of our community. If we don't, the whole community could suffer. Quartzsite has a bright future. The question is, do we just have the porch light on or do we have the stadium lights on to show our beautiful community and welcome the wonderful people who come here live and thrive here and keep our community this unique community that it is. 3) Prop 301 NO! This proposition is about integrity of the council. It is about everyone paying their bills to the town, before a candidate is eligible to run and or govern. This is one way to actually help curb corruption. The "yeah-but" ones are only a distraction to hide their agenda to not pay their bills. Please vote NO on 301. If there's any questions of what's happening you can always ask me and you know I will tell you how it is. Please get out and vote. Starr BearCat Quartzsite Property owner, taxpayer and registered voter QUARTZSITE -ONE-TIME EXPENDITURE LIMIT OVERRIDE NOV. 7, BALLOT (MEASURE 401) Since 1980, budget expenditures for all Towns in Arizona are limited by the Town's population for the previous year. Since 1980, The Town of Quartz- site's population was suffi cient to permit adopted budget expenditures to serve the needs of the community in compliance with State Law. ISSUE: -In the 2020 U.S Census, there was a severe undercount of 38% in the Town's population. -This resulted in a $750,000 short- age over the last two years, in the ability to expend adopted budgeted funds to provide needed local ser- vices (Police, Water, Sewer, Parks, Maintenance, and Administration) (based on the 2020 Census popula- tion [undercount]). CENSUS FACTS: -Census-takers go door-to-door to collect household data. When the Census was being taken, Covid-19 was in full force, and many residents did not want to answer the door to strangers. Door-hangar packets left behind were in many cases not fi lled out…along with other factors, resulting in the gross undercount of the Town's actual population. -There is no appeal process for cor- recting the Census count. -In fact, there has been NO loss of population. Based on the current number of existing, occupied hous- ing units in Quartzsite, and the es- tablished historic Census data of 1.7 persons per household, the current population of Quartzsite is 3,781 people, not the 2,413 person Cen- sus Count. If you have tried to fi nd housing of any kind in Quartzsite, you rapidly fi nd that there is little to no housing available. The housing is here, and it is occupied! -This severe undercount unfairly penalizes all citizens of Quartzsite by limiting budget expenditures for the provision of local services. BALLOT MEASURE 401: -Quartzsite has a balanced, respon- sible budget. A "YES" vote on this measure does not increase taxes or any levies on citizens or businesses. It merely permits Quartzsite to ex- pend approved, budgeted funds on community public services, making up for the Census undercount. -Please vote "YES" on Measure 401 in November! Mark Goldberg, Visitor since 1980's, Quartzsite full-time resident since 2007 Thanks to a new monitoring tool, you can now subscribe to and reg- ister names or business names to be monitored when documents are recorded. If a name match is found, the subscriber is notifi ed via email about the match, which alerts the subscriber to verify if the document recorded has any ties to them or their property acting as early warn- ings of potential property fraud. "Although our offi ce has not en- countered this issue, we hope this service will provide peace of mind. The notifi cation service would only apply to documents recorded after signing up. This tool is to update and improve our Recording Ser- vices and our Records Management System," said Richard Garcia, La Paz County Recorder. The Recording Notifi cation Service monitors documents as they are re- corded and notifi es subscribers re- garding documents of interest. Sub- scribers are notifi ed by email when a newly recorded document contains a name that matches a name in the sub- scriber's list of names. Subscribers can list up to 6 versions of their names. Notifi cation name checks are only performed on new documents re- ceived at the Recorder's Offi ce. Older documents or documents re- corded prior to a subscribers regis- tration are not checked. You can use this web site to search previously recorded documents for names of interest. The service is free, there is No cost. Sign up online at: www.thecountyrecorder.com For more information, please con- tact the La Paz County Recorder, 1112 Joshua Ave., Suite 201, Parker, AZ. 928-669-6136. La Paz Co. Recorder offers Free Recording Notification Service Transfer station hours Dump your trash for free at the Transfer Station. Please cover your load. Quartzsite Transfer Station is now WINTER HOURS thru March: Sunday thru Wednesday, 7:30am to 2:30pm. NO DUMPING! Please don't abuse the free services at Quartzsite transfer station by dumping garbage outside gates when closed. Be sure to thank the staff, too! The transfer station is located north of Town, just off Hwy. 95, near the Sewer Treatment Plant. For more info call the Main landfi ll 928-916- 1253 or Main offi ce at 928-854-9152.

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