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This Week
NEWS............................... 18
This snoozing bobcat at an Ahwatukee home isn’t alone.
BUSINESS.................. 39
Ahwatukee pet sitter Tracy Zipay has much to celebrate.
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
A 3d printer made this real-life Phoenix home.
SPORTS.........................42
Changes are in store for high school sports, including track.
@AhwatukeeFN
Council ballot fight questions judge’s impartiality BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
O
ne of the Ahwatukee hopefuls for Phoenix City Council asked the Arizona Supreme Court last week to remove one of his competitors from the ballot for reasons that include a challenge to the impartiality of the judge who refused to oust the candidate. The petition filed by Moses Sanchez against former Phoenix Assistant Police Chief Kevin Robinson, the self-proclaimed front-runner in the seven-way race for Council District 6, sets the stage for a still unscheduled hearing over allegations that Robinson rented a “shad-
ow residence” in Ahwatukee even though his home is actually in Scottsdale. Among the issues raised in the appeal by attorneys Dennis Wilenchik and his son Jack Wilenchik is Superior Court Judge M. Scott McCoy’s impartiality in deciding Sanchez’s initial bid to oust Robinson. The petition shows that McCoy’s wife, attorney Kelly Barr, was one of 399 people who signed Robinson’s petition. McCoy declined comment when contacted by the Ahwatukee Foothills News last week and his wife said he did not know she had signed Robinson’s petition to get on the ballot. “As an Arizona voter, I did sign Mr. Robin-
Phoenix still faces staggering pension debt BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
REAL ESTATE ....... RE5
@AhwatukeeFN |
A
rizona municipalities, counties and fire districts last fiscal year took advantage of unanticipated general fund revenue increases to make big additional payments on their debt to the fund that pays the pensions earned by thousands of retired police officers and firefighters. Even Phoenix kicked in an additional $65.6 million over the last two fiscal years toward its fund debt. But many Arizona government entities still have a long way to go before they erase their huge unfunded liabilities.
And for Phoenix, that $65.6 million in additional payments was more like a nibble than a bite into its debt. No municipality has a bigger public safety pension debt than Phoenix. It owes $3.4 billion to the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System, records show. That accounts for nearly half the $8.84 billion of the plan’s unfunded liability that existed at the close of the 2021-22 fiscal year on June 30. For the entire state system, including county and state corrections officers’ retirement plans and the plan for judges and elected officials, that number was $10.9 billion.
see PENSION page 14
son’s petition,” she told AFN in an email. “I did not discuss this with my husband and he had no knowledge of my signature on the petition.” Sanchez’s petition says McCoy should have disclosed his wife’s presence on Robinson’s election petitions, though it also concedes “whether the trial judge was aware of it is unknown.” “When there is a reasonable perception that a judge’s ability to act was impaired,” the petition states, “the judge’s decision should be vacated if there exists a risk of injustice or of undermining public confidence in the judicial
see ROBINSON page 6
Back to Kyrene
These new teachers at Kyrene School District all have something in common: their educational journey began in the very district where they started working this school year. “It’s always so special when many of our teachers choose to teach in the same classrooms that they were in as students,” Superintendent Laura Toenjes told the governing board last week. “It’s quite a few teachers who joined us back that were once carried kids that are now teaching in our schools so it’s very exciting.” Toenjes also unveiled a timeline for the development of the district’s next strategic plan, which will set the district’s course for five years after the current school year. For details, see page 13. (Kyrene School District)
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