Water Board Proposes Slight Rate Hike
Average incease projected at 20¢ to 30¢ per day
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
APACHE JUNCTION- The Apache Junction Water Company is proposing a slight raise in rates to continue to provide safe drinking water, reliable water service and economic sustainability to its customers.
   At its 6 p.m. June 30 meeting, the company, which also goes by the name City of Apache Junction Water Utilities Community Facilities District, said the average rate increase would be 20 to 30 cents per day for average to high-use residential customers, respectively. The Apache Junction Water Co. serves about 30 percent of the city.
   “Nobody likes to raise rates,” said Frank Blanco, water district director. “We looked at every line item and wherever we could cut, we did reduce our budget to avoid a rate adjustment.”
   However, Blanco said there are no changes to many of the fees charged including account establishment feeds, account deposits for meters 3/4” and greater and miscellaneous penalities and copying.
   “(Nationally) within the next three to five years, water will become two to three times more expensive,” said Blanco quoting Neil Berlant, portfolio manager, with PFW Water Fund.
   For example, the average customer using 4,680 gallons per month, the existing 5/8” meter base rate is $10.94. The proposed fee is $15.99, making a $5.05 difference, Blanco said. The consumption rate would average $18.16 and with $3.41 cents tax, the new total would be $37.56. That is a $5.55 difference.

See A-1 and See Water Rates, page A-3

School Budget Set For Board Approval
District reduced budget by 5.5 percent over last year
By Meghan McCoy
The News
APACHE JUNCTION — The Apache Junction Unified School District held a special meeting on Monday, June 23, 2008 to discuss the proposed expenditure budget for 2008-2009, which will be subject to the governing boards approval on Tuesday, July 8, 2008.
   The district cut 5.5 percent or $3.1 million from the total aggregate budget and 2.5 percent or $885,051 from the Maintenance and Operations (M&O) portion of the budget for the 2008-2009 school year.
   One of the challenges the district was faced with when making changes to the budget dealt with a 5 percent reduction in the Average Daily Membership (ADM) funding. The ADM is an attendance tracking method that averages the first 100 days of school attendance, which is used for per pupil revenue. There are approximately 5,700 students in the district, which funded through the state of Arizona ADM amounts to approximately $5,500 per student.
   Another budgetary challenge for the district included a reduction in state and federal funding.
  The most difficult challenge in reducing the budget for the 2008-2009 school year dealt with cutting $1 million from the M&O budget due to the voters decision to stop the renewal last November, along with the first year of the three year phase out period. The M&O budget is used for such things as salaries, benefits, classroom supplies, utilities, gasoline for buses and maRecall Petitions Filed On Five Councilmembersintenance repairs, which accounts for the largest amount of the district’s expenditures.

See A-1 and see Budget A-2

Recall Petitions Filed On Five Council members
Mayor Insalaco calls action ‘Vindictive’
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
APACHE JUNCTION- An Apache Junction organization filed recall petitions July 2, 2008, at the city clerk’s office against five members of the City Council, including Mayor John Insalaco, in the hopes of ousting them from office.
   The Committee for Honest Government collected 491 unverified signatures against Jeff Serdy, 505 against Robin Barker, 514 against Vice Mayor R.E. Eck Jr. and 509 against Rick Dietz, according to Suzanne Heninger, a secretary in the city clerk’s office. She said the organization needed to collect 222 for the council members. The group gathered 579 signatures against Insalaco; they needed 377, Heninger said.
   Only City Councilmembers Chip Wilson and Joe Severs remain untouched by this recall effort.
  Other than committee chairman Jim Stephens and treasurer Shannon Flynn, only seven other people participated in circulating the petitions. Those include Glenda Serdy (Councilman Jeff Serdy’s ex-wife), and former Apache Junction Police Chief Glenn Walp of Gold Canyon. Treasurer Flynn declined to comment; Chairman Stephens did not respond to calls.
   “It’s all vindictive,” Insalaco said. “They’re building this recall on lies and accusations. They say we’re not caring people. I’m not going to say anything bad about Joe Severs. He (Severs) wants to help people but the people he helped have been illegal.

See A-1 and see Downtown, A-3

Juniors Baseball All Stars Win Two
By Chuck Baker
The News
The Juniors Baseball All Stars (13- and 14-yearolds) from Apache Junction Little League won two of three District 7 Tournament games played last week at Gene Autry Park in Mesa as the team hopes to keep alive a twogame win streak when tournament play resumes this week with the championship round.
   After opening with a 4-0 loss against a very tough pitcher from the Mesa American All Stars, the team from Apache Junction cruised to an easy 18-0 win over Red Mountain National and then defeated Mesa Southern to finish their “pool play” as the number two seed.
   The Apache Junction All Stars will now play in a semifinal game this Monday, July 7, against the No. 1 seed from a second pool, Mesa North Central, in an 8 p.m. at Gene Autry Park.
   In the other semifinal game, Mesa American takes on Red Mountain American and the two semifinal winners will square off Tuesday, July 8, at 7 p.m. in the District 7 championship game at Gene Autry Park. It is very likely that Mesa American and Apache Junction will meet a second time in the championship game.
   In last week’s 18-0 win over Red Mountain National, the Apache Junction All Stars sent 17 batters to plate in a twelve-run, second inning on their way to an easy victory.

See C-1 and see Juniors, page C-3