Growing Inequity. Steve Williamson and Karen McClelland welcome Bob Oliphant back to the show to discuss the latest developments with Yavapai College in the face of a second year of county-wide property tax increases. For many years, Oliphant has reported the disparity between the college’s investments on the east and west sides of Yavapai County.
Even though Sedona and the Verde Valley contribute a disproportionate amount of tax revenue to the college, the vast majority of it continues to be spent in the Prescott and Prescott Valley area.
Oliphant says, “Not much has changed over the past six or seven years. In fact, if anything, the dominance of the west side of the county has increased rather than decreased. The amount of millions of dollars that they’re investing in new projects over there is astonishing for a small community college with a tax base of about 240,000…Of course, I look at things from our lens from over here, and we’re left behind, been left behind. And we’re simply falling further and further behind.”