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Slade: RCSCW officials loading up expenditures

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It is once again spring in Sun City West; the birds are singing, and the birds in the general manager’s office and Governing Board (birds of a feather?) are hard at work preparing to further pad their gilded nests and bloated budgets by gouging the citizens of Sun City West with unnecessary fee increases.

I compared the budget and fee information published by Recreation Centers of Sun City and Recreation Centers of Sun City West for the year ends of 2019 for each community to see how they compare. RCSC operates on a calendar year (January-December) while RCSCW operates on a fiscal year (July-June).

Here are a few facts about each community. Sun City’s population is 38,877 and Sun City West’s is 25,515. Sun City West has about two-thirds the population of Sun City based on 2019 data. Yet RCSC’s operating budget is significantly lower than RCSCW’s. RCSC operates their facilities, with at least one more golf course than RCSCW, with about 30% less operating expense than RCSC based on 2019 data.

RCSC’s property assessment is $496 per household while RCSCW’s is $497 per person! Based on a two-person household, property assessments in Sun City West are double that of Sun City. Can you guess where the RCSCW General Manager Bill Schwind lives?

Interested parties should also review the board reserve funding for each community. It seems to me that RCSCW has excess reserves and should make commensurate reductions in annual fees.

The only rational conclusion that can be reached is RCSCW has too much of our money. My correspondence from Mr. Schwind over time suggests he does not care and has no intention of listening to other voices in the community.

One thing is for certain, Mr. Schwind and the governing board will never address these glaring and outrageous discrepancies between the two communities unless you demand to know why. I am particularly disappointed in the governing board members. They are supposed to watch out for the use of the community funds and it is obvious they are not doing so.

Most of us have had our club activities curtailed due to the COVID problem. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been saved in utilities, janitorial expenses and other operational expenses, and I am certain that not one thin dime of these savings will be returned to you, the owners.

I remind all reading this letter that Mr. Schwind has closed facilities not required to be closed by the state or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including the gyms most recently and even the golf courses last spring. These are the actions of an autocratic bureaucrat and should not be tolerated; we are all old enough to decide where we go and what we do for ourselves. Obviously, the science is not being followed.

All concerned voices in the community should demand only reasonable increases in annual budgets be implemented. Further, it should be made clear to Mr. Schwind that he has no authority to withhold facilities and activities without sanction from the state or CDC. This may need to be done by legal action because of the unyielding nature of the GM.

You should direct your letters and comments to William Schwind at the R.H. Johnson Recreation Center.

Tom Slade

Sun City West