*By Tim Ellis
Arizona Daily Star*

Citing a lack of public support and budget concerns, Sahuarita’s Town Council on Monday voted unanimously to halt development of a municipal wireless Internet-access system.
Most of the approximately 120 people at the meeting at Sahuarita School District auditorium seemed opposed to the system. A survey conducted last month also showed most residents opposed the the system, which would have enabled anyone with a properly equipped computer to access the Internet from almost anywhere in town for free or at a reduced price.
About a dozen people spoke out against the proposal, which the town has been studying since early 2005. Residents’ concerns ranged from the cost of the system to its practicality to philosophical opposition over government providing a service already available from the private sector.
“The majority of the town does not want Wi-Fi,” said Don Darrah, president of the Quail Creek Homeowners Association. “And I think you’d listen to that.”
Sahuarita school board member Tom Murphy thinks the $4 million budgeted for Wi-Fi start up “would be better spent” on parks, schools and a safer Sahuarita Road pedestrian crossing.
Three Sahuarita High School students favored Wi-Fi, because it would help them with research and homework.
Alex Jacome, chairman of the town’s Economic Development Commission, said the system would benefit the town government by allowing for faster communication for the town’s police and building inspectors. It would boost the town’s economic-development efforts, Jacome said.
Vice Mayor Phil Conklin said he initially supported Wi-Fi, but became skeptical after learning more about the system — especially its cost, a key concern in a time of falling revenues due to the slumping housing market.
“We need to go back to basics here,” he said. “What are our needs? What are our priorities?”
Mayor Lynne Skelton said she came to the opposite conclusion after talking with numerous residents since the town began a public-involvement process over the summer.
“What I’ve learned is that Wi-Fi is not a luxury,” she said. “There will come a day when it will be just as necessary” as cellphones, personal computers and other techno-tools of modern life.