The Holbrook City Council met last week with all council members present and Councilwoman Karina Pack participating by phone. The main presentation came from Holbrook High School Student Council, led by incoming 2027 student body president Alexis Young. The presentation focused on conditions documented during a recent community cleanup, including weeds, trash, neglected properties, abandoned buildings, broken sidewalks, vacant lots and town entrances. “What began as a day of picking up litter became something much bigger,” Young said. She added that the issues affect “safety, community, pride, tourism and the overall image of Holbrook.”
The presentation recommended a year-round weed management plan, low-maintenance desert landscaping, more community beautification days, an adopt-a-block program, improved town entrances and renewed use for vacant buildings. “First impressions matter and our town entrances are the first opportunity we have to welcome people in Holbrook,” Young said. The presentation also tied beautification to Route 66 tourism and compared Holbrook’s opportunity to improvements seen in Winslow, Williams and Flagstaff.
Mayor Kathleen Smith praised the group afterward, saying, “I think we are in good hands for our future.” She said community beautification is already one of the council’s five strategic goals and announced plans to partner with the student council as a mayor’s youth council next year. The group is expected to return for a work session to go through the ideas in more detail.
The council opened and closed a public hearing on the fiscal year 2026-27 primary property tax and final budget with no public comments. The council then held the first reading of an ordinance which would levy the primary property tax for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2027. Mayor Smith said the rate is the same as last year, but council discussion clarified that increased assessed property values could still mean more revenue. “The rate hasn’t changed, but property values have,” Smith said. A second reading and vote are scheduled for July 22. The budget has remained largely unchanged since previous recent reporting on the budget.
Councilman Robert Black objected to rising assessments, saying that the county appraises property “higher and higher and higher.” After it was noted that a motion to decrease the levy could be made at the next meeting, Black said, “I will do that.”
The council unanimously approved adopting the fiscal year 2027 budget. Before the vote, Black questioned $1 million in contingency funds and asked whether it could be placed in an interest-bearing account if it was not expected to be used for a year. The response from Mayor Smith was that the city would need to verify where the money is held and that the contingency could also be needed for grant matches.
During the meeting the board also approved past meeting minutes.
