By Chris Flora | The Explorer
Residents of Oro Valley will not see a reduction in their utility bills after the council unanimously directed Town Manager Greg Caton to look no further into exploring the tax decrease as preparation for the town’s five-year financial forecast approaches.
The residents that would have been subject to the decrease include those making use of water services from the City of Tucson, Metropolitan Water Company, and the Oro Valley Water utility, as well as electric power service from Tucson Electric Power and natural gas from Southwest Gas.
Inclusive of a two-year sunset clause, the utility tax was increased from 0 percent to 2 percent in 2007, and increased again to 4 percent in 2011, where it will remain.
During last week’s regular session, council cited increasing expenditures and decreasing revenues as the reason for rejecting a decrease. Utility tax collections for fiscal year 2012/13 amounted to $2,756,039.
