City Urges Residents to ‘Shop AJ’
Local sales tax provides funds for police, library, parks and recreation and much more
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
During the nation’s dire economic times, the City of Apache Junction is encouraging residents to shop within the city limits—east of Meridian Road— to maintain valuable city services such as the police department, the library and parks and recreation.
   The City of Apache Junction levies no property tax and is supported primarily by a 2.2% local sales tax.
 “We have a city sales tax,” said Donna Meinerts, CGFM, the City’s finance director. “Our main revenue stream is sales tax. By citizens— or anybody— shopping within Apache Junction’s city limits, we get more revenue. By shopping within the City of Apache Junction, it’s also supporting local businesses.”
   As a source of revenue, local sales tax is a approximately 42 percent of the general fund, said Steve Filipowicz. the City’s economic development director. Of the general fund, 41 cents of every dollar goes to pay police officers and public safety with another 7 cents going to courts and city attorney in Apache Junction.
 To stress the point of shopping locally, the City has kicked off its “Shop Apache Junction” campaign. Buildings are adorned with “Shop AJ” signs and cable television is airing more than 1,100 advertisements to hammer home the point.

See A-1 and See Shop AJ, A-6

Community Comes Together For A Wall City leaders help Habitat for Humanity family raise walls

See A-1

Police Dept., Main Street Team Up For ‘Business Watch’
Free program adds extra set of eyes to local companies
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
The News
The Apache Junction Main Street program, the Apache Junction Community Development Corp. and the Apache Junction Police Department have come together to form “Business Watch.”
   “It’s a networking tool for our businesses to communicate criminal activity,” said Ariel Ohler, Main Street director.
   Apache Junction Police Chief Jerald Monahan said it’s a “huge opportunity” for his department. He added the program will cost the city nothing.
   “It’s a program that opens up the lines of communication between the police department and the business community. It’s very efficient. Our biggest communication device will be e-mail and the Internet, which allows us to communicate with the whole group all at once.”
   Based on the same premise as Neighborhood Watch, Business Watch is a partnership between business owners/ employees and the police department to help reduce and prevent crimes occurring in the business community.

See A-1 and see Business Watch, A-7

Lady Prospectors Sweep Saguaro
By Chuck Baker
The News
All three Lady Prospector basketball teams posted wins over visiting Scottsdale Saguaro last Friday night for a sweep of the Lady Sabercats. The varsity squad rallied from an eight-point, second quarter deficit for a 61-51 victory to improve to 10-9 overall on the season and 2-3 in the Desert Sky Region.
   Riley Mullender scored 13 of her 14 points in the second half to get the come-from-behind win for AJHS. Mullender also added seven rebounds.
   Sierra Aulik contributed 15 points, seven steals and four rebounds, Jessica Iniguez netted 11 points and had seven boards and two blocked shots, Emily McGann scored 10 points and handed out three assists, Kylie Bocskay pitched in with 6 points and six rebounds, Katasha Braaten netted 4 points and Katie Karbo sank a free throw and pulled down six rebounds.
   The two teams combined to shoot 56 free throws in the game that saw two Saguaro players foul out, leaving them with just five remaining players. Apache Junction went 22-for-31 at the charity stripe while Saguaro was 16-for-25 at the foul line.
   Also this past week, Apache Junction spotted Tempe McClintock a 14-0 first-quarter lead and was never able to fully recover, falling to the Lady Chargers 47-31 on Tuesday.

See B-1 and see HOOPS, page B-4