Caton May Leave Before Oro Valley Budget Discussion

In early March, the Grand Junction, Colorado City Council offered Oro Valley Town Manager Greg Caton a job. Caton is expected to attend the Grand Junction Council’s March 16 meeting to accept the offer.

Caton has been looking to leave Oro Valley since its descent into debt after the purchase of the El Conquistador Country Club and golf courses.

According to sources, Caton’s Oro Valley contract calls for 90 days’ notice. It is likely he will ask the Oro Valley Council to release him from his contract with just 45 days’ notice. This will allow him to be gone during the discussions on the FY15/16 budget.

The Grand Junction position offers an annual salary of $180,000, a 9% (of base salary) contribution to a retirement plan, full healthcare and dental benefits, a $500 per month automobile allowance and a one-time $7,500 relocation allowance.

In June, Caton was considered for, but was not offered the same post in Golden City, Colorado. Before taking the job in Oro Valley, he served as the assistant city manager in Durango for 8 years.

Caton has served in Oro Valley during volatile times. The purchase of the El Conquistador Country Club was considered reckless and prompted a recall of three members of the Town Council and the Mayor. Those members narrowly kept their seats, but the losses experienced by the Town have grown as well as the public’s dissatisfaction due to $2 million dollars in golf losses since the acquisition.

Residents wonder whether the majority on the Oro Valley Council, who pushed the El Conquistador deal, will attempt to make Caton the scapegoat for their fiscally irresponsible decision to purchase the golf courses.

Oro Valley Councilman Mike Zinkin, who has opposed the reckless spending stated, “Greg is supposed to present his recommended budget on April 6. I will be very interested to see how he budgets for the golf losses and the promised capital golf improvements and pay for them all with the $2 million sales tax increase. This year we will have $2 million just is losses, without any golf improvements. When residents are not receiving any cost of living adjustments, I will be interested to see if he offers any raises for the Town employees. I, for one, do not desire Greg to leave in the middle of these discussions.”

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