The Winslow City Council received a legislative update from City Manager David Coolidge during last week’s regular meeting, with Coolidge reporting that a food tax proposal had resurfaced in the state legislature after the city believed it was dead. “Those went away, the House bills went away. They were never going to make it to committee. And so we thought we had gotten past it,” he said. “But then there was a striker that was entered in last week for Senate Bill 1090.” The bill was scheduled for committee but did not advance. He noted that cities and the legislature reached a compromise last year that is headed to the ballot. This bill would restrict the amount of taxes on food purchased in the city, which for a city like Winslow whose biggest tax generators are Walmart and Safeway would have a dramatic impact for the city to run services and would likely lead to cuts in programs like the library, parks and recreation. However, the compromise being put in front of voters in the 2026 election will grandfather cities in who already have food taxes and restrict them from ever increasing.
Coolidge then identified House Bill 4030 and House Concurrent Resolution 2052 as more serious threats. He described the proposal, “In essence, this bill would put a moratorium on any increases until June 30 of 2030. And this would include water and wastewater rates as well as any fee schedule changes,” he said.
Coolidge warned, “Water and wastewater rates will put all municipalities in danger of defaulting on their long-term debt.” He explained how the freeze would override Winslow’s approved rate schedule. “We have an adopted rate scale for the next five years. But it would put the moratorium based on this current year’s budget and they would not continue to change every January like you had already approved,” he said addressing the council. Coolidge said the city is working with its lobbyists to protect the city’s interests and would provide additional ongoing updates as these initiatives move through the state congress.
Turning to city projects, Coolidge described a strategy for the downtown restroom installation. “Downtown restrooms; we found an alternative to get this project started,” he said and explained the estimating challenge. “It’s so unique, we just have no way of really gauging what the cost is,” he said. Coolidge said the city will use its job order contracting system, which allows it to hire a pre- approved contractor at preset pricing without going through a full traditional bid process, to complete most of the facility. Coolidge said funding would remain for the second phase. “That would leave us about $130,000 in our budget for the finishing,” he said, adding the goal is completion by summer.
During the meeting the council approved a contract with McCauley Construction & Trucking, LLC for the restroom installation at a cost of $167,761.
On the water tank replacement project, Coolidge reported coordination with federal partners. “We met with our project team from the Army Corps for this project last week. They said that probably about May is when they’ll have the environmental assessment done, which works out perfectly because our plan, our design is supposed to be done in May as well,” he said. He furthered, “That will hopefully allow us to go out to bid end of May, early June and then by the end of July, start construction on that replacement water tank on the south field,” Coolidge told council.
Coolidge concluded with news of federal funding for emergency medical equipment. “With the appropriation bill that funds the Department of Health and Human Services signed last week, we received notification from Senator (Mark) Kelly and (Senator Ruben) Gallego’s office that our EMS monitors remained in the final bill,” he said. The earmark totals $68,000 with no local match required. The equipment will replace outdated monitors.
The council discussed potentially renovating the former council chambers at 115 E. Second St. and asked staff to develop updated cost estimates for budget consideration. Coolidge said previous estimates were roughly $150,000 several years ago but would likely be higher now due to needed ADA upgrades, including restroom modifications. Councilmember Daniel Tafoya supported exploring the project during budget season, while Vice Mayor Jim Maclean said it ranked low among city priorities unless excess funds are available. The council has been temporarily utilizing the Winslow Chamber of Commerce as a meeting space until work can be completed at the other location.
During call to the public, Ann Schmidt addressed the council about data center negotiations, she said that data center developers often have local officials sign non-disclosure agreements when discussing these developments and wanted to tell the council that she hopes no agreements like these are made with developers and the public is in the loop every step of the way.
In other business, the council:
* Approved a proclamation recognizing February 2026 as Black History Month.
* Approved delegation agreement between the city fire department and Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to allow the department to issue burn permits.
* Approved a liquor license application for Nini’s Kitchen located 210 E. Fourth St.
