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With no new revenues to replace the loss in coal power, Navajo County cut another $2 million from the overall budget, as the Board of Supervisors approved the tentative budget of nearly $121.3 million for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 at the June 11 meeting.
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The budget allocates $42.9 million to the general fund, $76.3 million to the special revenue fund and a little over $2 million to the debt service fund, with no money allocated to capital projects. Leading the budget presentation was Finance Director Paige Peterson, who noted, “We have a balanced budget despite rising costs of doing business.”
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Peterson went on to share, “Our current year was a good year, both locally and at the state level. The state-share sales tax was up 6.57 percent and the county excise tax was up 7.67 percent. However, we consider this a one-time growth. If you look at the past 10 years, our sales tax growth is less than one percent. So, this is making up for all the loss we had during the recession.”
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With the loss of coal power, Peterson said the new normal of sales tax collected will be 18 percent less than in previous years. “We are anticipating the closure of Cholla by 2023, but it could come sooner and that will create a property tax loss.”
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In a see-saw effect, the county received relief from the state in the form of the elected official retirement relief and the elimination of the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections fee. Unfortunately, these gains were quickly wiped out when the state imposed on the county an increase of $313,000 to the Arizona Long-term Care fund as well as $100,000 increase in the Public Safety Retirement fund.
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Peterson noted that the department directors and elected officials all operated within their budgets, keeping tight control of their spending and that, together with the innovative approach to health care that saved $3.3 million this current year, enabled the county to end Fiscal Year 2019 with the appropriate financial contingencies.
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“Fiscal Year 2019, our current year, was the first year our ongoing revenues met our ongoing expenses,” continued Peterson, further noting, “It took a roaring economy for us to be able to pay for our ongoing expenses when we were already tight. If it weren’t for the one-time inmate revenues, we wouldn’t be ending the year with the appropriate financial reserves.”
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Peterson expressed concerns over the rise of minimum wage. “Minimum wage is increasing once again in January 2020, that is by law we have to make those increases. When you have minimum wage take such a sharp increase in such a short number of years, while the rest of our salary plans have not moved, it creates a rippling effect and is causing serious compression issues. There are concerns about what these issues will do along with the additional workloads from the staff reductions.”
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“Our cities and towns are great partners. Unfortunately, we have had the hard conversation about jail fees that will begin to increase on July 1 to help with the jail costs,” said Peterson.
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While law enforcement and the criminal justice system takes up more than half the general fund, by taking on federal inmates, the jail was able to generate a one-time inmate revenue that allowed the county to pay for some of the capital needs, including upgrades in IT and vehicles.
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“We still have many IT and vehicle needs,” said Peterson. “If the one-time inmate revenue goes away, we will be forced to move capital needs into the general fund or simply go without. We recognize the additional inmates generate revenue for us. It is not a stable revenue and while we appreciate the partnership, it is not money we can count on.”
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County Manager Glenn Kephart said, “Creating this budget could have been tougher, but everyone rolled up their sleeves and came up with a plan. It was a team effort.”
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Williams echoed that when he said, “Everyone is feeling the cuts and everyone has done a tremendous job to be team players, but it is important that we find revenue replacement.”
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The board approved the tentative budget in the amount of $121.2 million, with Chairwoman Dawnafe Whitesinger, Vice Chairman Jason Whiting and Supervisors Steve William and Jesse Thompson all voting in favor. Supervisor Lee Jack, Sr., was absent from the meeting.
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In other business, the board:
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* Approved the Library Services and Technology Act grant awarded to the Library District for $47,710.
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* Authorized the Library District to administer a Library Services and Technology Act Grant for the Hopi Public Library for $4,000.
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* Approved a resolution to rezone Assessor Parcel Number 403-70-013B in the Snowflake area from RU-20 zoning to RU-5.
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* Approved a special use permit for the construction of a fenced community collection center adjacent to the current Pinetop-Lakeside Public Works building that will accommodate the collection of household waste and provide recycling opportunities to the public.
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* Approved the tentative Fiscal Year 2019-20 budgets for Navajo County districts.
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* Approved the annual contract for advertising and printing to The Tribune with a bid of $2.44 per column inch.
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* Approved a contract with Atkins in the amount of $49,923 to produce plans and specifications for the next phase of channel improvements within the Sky Hi Subdivision to further mitigate flooding.
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* Approved tax exemptions for 14 property owners pursuant to a request for redemption of waiver.
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* Approved the 2019 Revenue Sharing Application to the Tohono O’odham Nation by the Heber-Overgaard Fire District for equipment in the amount of $45,614 and letter of support.
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* Approved the distribution of the Forest Fee Allocation of $731,545 to the following Unified School Districts: Snowflake in the amount of $116,627; Heber-Overgaard, $244,674; Show Low, $228,572; Blue Ridge, $91,672; and Navajo County Accommodation School, $50,000.
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* Approved a memorandum of understanding between the Sheriff’s Office and the United States Marshal’s Service for joint law enforcement efforts to conduct compliance checks for sex offenders living in Navajo County.
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* Approved an amendment to the agreement regarding the employment of the magistrate court clerk. The amendment updates the annual cost from $41,580 to $48,200 to reflect the county’s actual cost increases including salary, state retirement and healthcare.
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* Approved an amendment agreement for court collection and criminal justice services. The amendment extends the agreement one year beginning July 1, 2019, and includes an annual assessment of $5,430 and amends the withdrawal-termination section from 120 days written notice to 60 days written notice.
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* Approved the extension of premises for American Legion Post 86 for their Fourth of July celebration at 2068 Lumber Valley Road in Overgaard.
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* Approved a quote from SirsiDynix Technology Center for the Navajo County Library District for $810 the first year, $480 the second year and $490 the third year. This includes SirsiDynix products, services, delivery, management and training.
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* Approved the sale of one back tax land parcel, Assessor Parcel Number 106-55-015N sold for $615.
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* Approved the use of the southwest corner of the Navajo County complex for the annual community July 4 fireworks display put on by the Holbrook Fire Department.
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* Approved the agreement between Navajo County and the Office of the Secretary of State for reimbursement for Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program usage. The agreement allows the county recorder to have access to the program for the purpose of verifying the citizenship and immigration status information of non-citizen and naturalized or derived U.S. citizen registrants when they register to vote.
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