OPINION — Most voters never reach the bottom of their ballot. This year, the Maricopa County Community College District board race deserves the trip.
The district runs 10 colleges on a $1.8 billion budget, largely paid for by property owners. Its last four budgets each included a property tax increase, including 5.2% this year. Over those same four years, it added exactly one new police officer position, while positions classified as top executives grew from 18 to 64.
That’s not a money problem. It’s a priorities problem.
On the Surprise City Council, I helped cut our property tax by a quarter in 2024 and again in 2025, and cast the lone vote against raising our sales tax. We still added more than 100 police officers and firefighters and hired our city’s first independent auditor, on a budget about half the college district’s size.
I started at Mesa Community College and have spent my career in West Valley schools. On the college board, I’ll push to stop new taxes and student fees and cut bureaucracy first, open the books so taxpayers can see what top administrators earn, build job training with West Valley employers, and keep campuses safe.
None of this is partisan. Lower taxes, safe campuses and real job training are what nearly every family wants from its colleges.
When your ballot arrives, keep going past the top races. The community college board shapes your property tax bill and your kids’ futures. It deserves your vote.
Jack Hastings is a Surprise city councilman, a West Valley school administrator and a candidate for Maricopa County Community College District Governing Board District 4. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.
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