by Elizabeth Troutman | May 19, 2024 | News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
The city of Maricopa appointed a new city manager with an annual salary of $242,000 and a $650,000 house included in the package.
Ben Bitter’s package also includes a $400 monthly stipend for personal vehicle use and a $100 monthly cell phone allowance. He is now the city’s highest paid employee ever.
Bitter will start July 1.
On April 16, the city council approved the purchase of a house for Bitter valued up to $650,000, which he will repay at a half-percent interest rate over 30 years, significantly below current market rates.
Bitter is receiving an $83,700 raise over his current salary and $20,000 more than outgoing City Manager Rick Horst’s pay.
Some residents are upset about the amount of taxpayer dollars dealt to Bitter.
Bitter’s credentials include serving as the city’s capital improvement plan and engineering director in 2021. Since 2022, he has served as deputy city manager and chief product officer.
But his background is riddled with controversy. During his time as city manager in Ashland, Kentucky, the City Commission voted 3-2 to fire him, marking the first such dismissal in decades.
The commissioners accused him of several policy violations, including issuing a $7,000 check as advanced vacation pay to a city employee against city policy and failing to investigate over $200,000 missing from city expenditures on tires.
Bitter said he was “humbled” by his appointment.
“I am deeply humbled by the trust and faith that the City Council has placed in me to fill this position,” Bitter said in a statement. “Following on the heels of such a great leader and mentor is a daunting task, one which I do not take lightly.”
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Elizabeth Troutman | May 17, 2024 | News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., accused President Joe Biden of “treasonous” conduct in mishandling the border at a Judiciary Committee hearing on May 10.
Crane joined House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and members of the committee in Sahuarita, Arizona for a field hearing titled “The Biden Border Crisis: Arizona Perspectives.”
The hearing examined the effects of the current southwest border crisis on Arizona’s residents and communities.
Crane said the president has “betrayed” the country. He read a definition of treason from the dictionary and said he thinks the president’s behavior qualifies.
“I think it’s treasonous, I absolutely do,” Crane said. “You guys feel betrayed? I know I do.”
The committee members heard from local residents, including a former Border Patrol sector chief, a former sheriff’s deputy, a fifth-generation rancher whose property and leases cover five miles of the border, and a woman who lost two children to fentanyl overdoses.
The witnesses said the border is the worst they’ve seen.
“It’s purposeful, and the purpose is to change the demographics of this country,” said Jim Chilton, the rancher. “It’s politically thought by the administration, Mr. Biden, that these people will vote for Democrats in the future.”
Chris T. Clem, the former high-ranking Border Patrol chief who served from President Clinton to President Biden and is now retired, said the Biden administration aims “to swing power on their behalf.”
Jordan agreed.
“It’s sad because you don’t want to think that about the commander-in-chief,” the Ohio Republican said. “But it’s tough to come up with any other conclusion.”
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Elizabeth Troutman | May 16, 2024 | News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
The Fountain Hills Town Council adopted its tentative budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year on a 6-1 vote May 7.
The council decided to set the budget at the maximum expenditure amount allowed under law, $45.1 million.
“Fountain Hills need to save some money and do more road repairs,” Councilman Allen Skillicorn said. “Last night the Liberal Ladies majority of council refused to cut just $1 from their ‘spend to max’ 2025 budget.”
Skillicorn, a Republican, suggested cutting 3% or $1.35 million from that budget to fund road repairs. The motion failed to receive a second. Skillicorn made a follow-up motion to cut the budget by just $1. This motion was seconded but failed three votes to four.
Voting to cut the budget were council members Gerry Freidel, Hannah Toth, and Skillicorn.
Mayor Ginny Dickey and council members Peggy McMahon, Sharron Grzybowski, and Brenda Kalivianakis voted against cutting just $1 from the budget.
“Four big spending Liberal Ladies voted for the maximum under law budget and could not cut just $1,” Skillicorn said. “If we cannot cut the budget by just $1 to fix roads, one wonders how Dickey, McMahon, Grzybowski, and Kalivianakis plan to fix our roads.”
Fountain Hills is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona with a population of roughly 24,000.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Elizabeth Troutman | May 16, 2024 | Economy, News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
Arizona Republican Rep. David Schweikert urged Americans to take “our fiscal responsibility” seriously in light of the Social Security Administration’s 2024 Trustees Report.
“I implore my brothers and sisters to take our fiscal responsibility seriously before it’s too late,” Schweikert said.
Schweikert, who serves as Joint Economic Committee vice chairman, issued a statement on the report, which projected that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund will become insolvent by 2033.
“The Social Security Trustees Report confirms that it’s no longer just future generations who should be concerned about receiving their full earned benefits but rather current retirees too,” Schweikert said
The congressman criticized Congress for failing to protect the entitlement programs millions of Americans depend on.
“As our nation’s fiscal health continues to deteriorate, Congress refuses to live up to its moral obligation to protect and modernize Social Security and Medicare,” he said. “It’s past time for the political class to put aside their talking points and start working on bipartisan solutions to save these programs for our seniors.”
According to the report, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund is projected to become exhausted by 2033. Once the OASI Trust Fund goes insolvent, all beneficiaries will face an across-the-board 21% cut to retirement benefits.
The Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund will be able to keep paying full benefits through at least 2098. But the combined OASI and DI Trust Funds will become depleted by 2035.
Once the combined OASDI trust funds go insolvent, all beneficiaries will face an across-the-board 17% cut to retirement benefits.
The Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund will become insolvent by 2036. At that point, the HI Trust Fund will only be able to cover 89% of total benefits.
The combined Social Security programs will run a cash-flow deficit of $169 billion this year and $2.7 trillion over the next decade.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Elizabeth Troutman | May 10, 2024 | News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
Congressional candidate and University of Arizona law school professor Kirsten Engel has refused to stand by Israel as her alma maters, Northwestern University and Brown University, blow up with antisemitic protests, a new report shows.
“Kirsten Engel is not a fighter for Arizona, she is a scared politician who is too afraid of the extreme left to speak up against antisemitism,” National Republican Congressional Committee Spokesperson Ben Petersen said in a statement.
Engel has “been silent in the face of protests taking place at their alma mater.”
Engel is running to represent Arizona’s sixth district. She is a former legislator, Charles E. Ares Professor of Law at the James E. Rogers College of Law, and an environmental lawyer.
She received her undergraduate degree from Brown and her J.D. from Northwestern.
Students at Northwestern set up an encampment on school grounds to demand the administration divest from Israel. Terrorist sympathizers even became violent with police officers.
At Brown, students also set up a pro-Palestine encampment, which they agreed to clear April 30.
Students across the country are skipping classes and final exams to protest on behalf of Hamas-controlled Palestine.
At Columbia University, students took over Hamilton Hall overnight, barricading themselves inside. At the University of Texas, more than 80 arrests have occurred.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
