“They’re not balancing the budget, they’re passing it on to counties,” Assistant County Manager Dusty Parsons told the Taylor Town Council Nov. 2. Also attending the meeting were District 3 Supervisor J.R. DeSpain, Distirct 4 Supervisor David Tenney, County Assessor Cammy Darris, County Attorney Brad Carlyon, and Sheriff KC Clark.
“They (state officials) can’t continue to balance their budget on the backs of the taxpayers and counties,” said Parsons.
Parsons made a PowerPoint presentation that began with the organizational chart of Navajo County. Revenue streams are 66 percent intergovernmental, such as state shared sales tax, county sales tax and vehicle license tax; 23 percent comes from real property taxes, personal property taxes, and tax interest and penalties; six percent from fines, fees and forfeits; and three percent from miscellaneous sources.
Navajo County has the second lowest property tax rate in Arizona at 59.84 cents per $100 in assessed valuation. At $4.19, Gila County has the highest rate.
Parsons gave a brief overview of the general fund revenue and expense history, which has decreased over the past few years. The 2007-08 fiscal year budget was $119,637,665 and this fiscal year, it totals $113,913,886.
“Like all counties of the state, we’re impacted by what the state decides to take,” said Parsons. “Mr. Tenney spent a lot of time trying to educate the legislature on how the county works.” There were 34 freshmen legislator, including 27 in the House, and most of them had no idea how the county worked, according to Parsons.
The state delayed the prisoner shift until July 1, 2012, which, Parsons explained, will require that all prisoners with less than one year of their sentence remaining to return to the county where they were convicted or that county will pay $55 a day per inmate.
Navajo County adopted a balanced budget without transfers from special taxing districts, he said.
One problem is that Highway User Revenue Funds have been shifted to the Department of Public Safety. Recently, towns have united and sent resolutions to state officials asking that they stop sweeping HURF revenues. The county’s HURF funds have decreased from $658,496 in August 2010 to $558,913 in August 2011. The loss of HURF revenues impacts road maintenance, road improvements and procurement of capital equipment.
Navajo County was notified June 24 by the Federal Bureau of Prisons that it was canceling its contract with the county to house prisoners effective Aug. 31. That translates to the loss of $2 million annually that is used to fund the jail’s debt service and operations, and there are 34 jobs tied to that revenue.
Parsons noted that reducing the population of inmates doesn’t automatically reduce the number of officers needed to operate the jail.
Another concern is that in 2014, the state loses the one cent temporary sales tax voters approved last year.
Supervisor Tenney gave a brief report on Forest Health, stating, “This project is getting close.” He said that the request for proposals closed in early September and it is anticipated they will award a contract by late fall.
He noted that two companies submitted proposals, one from China and the other a firm that wants to open an OSB plant in Winslow that would add 200 jobs at the mill and 400 at the forest, as well as treat 30,000 acres of forest. They are encouraging the selection of the OSB plant proposal.
“This is a very important project,” said Tenney. “It will put people to work and at the same time help prevent those fires like Rodeo-Chedeski and Wallow.”
“For the most part it has been working. There still are some areas of disagreement, but we’re committed to see it through and I believe we’ll get it done,” said Tenney, who also said that the committee has brought together representatives of environmental groups, government and the Forest Service, who were able to agree on some things.
Parsons also displayed ads made by the sheriff’s office and the county attorney using Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act funds. “They have done a great job,” he said.
The council members had no questions, but Councilman Shawn Palmer commented that if the Winslow OSB plant got the contract, it would have a rippling affect, because there are trucks on the road that would need repairs, fuel and tires, and the workers will buy homes, food and more.
Tenney said he just returned from Washington, D.C., where he met with Forest Service officials, as well as Arizona’s Congressmen and Senators, and said that the group is advocating for the OSB plant. “It’s a proven market,” he said, noting that there’s not a plant in the Southwest, and a biomass plant would be built to take the wood chips. “It just snowballs,” he concluded.
