Town of Marana eyes new community center

For the town of Marana, Arizona, a new community center could be just over the horizon. All that's standing in its way? A half of a cent of an increase in a sales tax.

Plans call for a new, 55,000 square foot community center that would come equipped with an indoor fitness center, an indoor gym, meeting rooms, competition swimming pools and recreational swimming pools. The planned facility is expected to be build near the intersection of Marana Main Street and Bill Gaudette Drive.

“There are probably very pretty few if any communities of our size, in that 55 to 60 thousand range, that don’t have facilities of this type,” Marana Town Manager Terry Rozema remarked in a recent interview with MSN. Rozema also added the need for a half cent sales tax increase in order to turn the plans for the facility into a reality, but made a point to note that the extra half cent on the sales tax would merely bring Marana even with some neighboring towns. “You’re going to be paying essentially the same as you would in an Oro Valley or city of Tucson,” he commented.

The results of an online survey say the extra half cent of a sales tax is worth the payoff. Approximately 80% of those polled said they're in favor of the tradeoff of a modest tax increase for the development of a new community center.