With the current political setting, you may not always have consistency as the sheriff has to run for office every few years. With local government, you have a better chance of assuring consistency.

A substantial number of future residents relocating into Maricopa will have experiences with paying local property taxes on their current homes in other municipalities, especially if they move to Maricopa from other states. Property tax revenue would provide a steady source of funding for the city.... Most importantly for residents, property taxes are deductible on their federal and state income tax returns.

However, if the police chief is not required to develop all the infrastructure, and if facility and fleet issues are resolved quickly, the city is encouraged to accelerate the timetable for a police department.

This approach will reduce the initial training academy costs. And incentives should be explored to attract quality applicants.

Some say that some of the work has been shoddy, that we need performance objectives and local control, that we need our own police department. We've heard that juvenile cases have not been handled properly and concerns that most deputies do not live in the city.

Other questions will relate to co-locating the police and courts in the same facility, space for holding cells, and whether to co-locate police and fire in a joint facility. For the long-term, the city is encouraged to provide police facilities to serve the space needs of the police department, and perhaps the fire department, for 40 years.