By Linda Kor The Holbrook City Council met with City Manager Ted Soltis last Thursday for a budget work session followed by a regularly scheduled council meeting. There was no action taken in the meeting and the only item on the agenda was an executive session held behind closed doors on the topic of the open meeting law with the city attorney. No discussion took place after that session. During the work session, Soltis provided an overview of the Fiscal Year 2021-22 budget for the city. According to his report, despite the negative impact of the pandemic on revenues, fiscal year revenues are projected to be better than expected. Soltis noted that as payroll remains the City’s most significant cost, positions are continuing to be evaluated when they become open to determine whether the workload can be assumed by another position. Regarding projects, Soltis noted that the cemetery expansion is nearly complete. To complete the project, funds totaling $30,000 have been budgeted for surveying assistance for the plots. Additional funds have been budgeted for paint and repairing the cemetery wall. In the Parks Department, funds have been budgeted for replacing part of the baseball field fence along Seventh Street and for siding for the concession stand at Lisitzky Park. Solitis noted that there are several changes taking place at the Hidden Cove Golf Course. With the purchase of new equipment, there is a reduced need for full-time staff due to less maintenance down-time; reducing staff from three to two full-time positions with one part-time seasonal position. This year a fringe mower in the amount of $16,500 and gator to pull the top dresser in the amount of $11,000 have been budgeted. Club house staffing will change from one 40-hour employee to three part-time 20-hour employees for a coverage of 60 hours per week. In addition, a snack bar will be added to increase amenities and help offset payroll. Last year, a 10-hour part-time position was added to the animal shelter to provide cleaning service some weekends. This year Soltis said the position will be increased to 20-hours with expanded duties to include animal control activities, enabling the shelter to be open on weekends for adoptions and animal control. The Holbrook Volunteer Fire Department will be receiving a new rescue vehicle. The current vehicle was purchased used in 1987 and is no longer considered reliable. The rescue vehicle is budgeted at $200,000. In addition, capital expenditures for the department were increased to $50,000 from $30,000. The PSPRS (Public Safety Personnel Retirement System) remains a serious debt to the city, at a cost of over $1 million but according to Soltis, that is being addressed and the debt diminishing. Regarding equipment for the Streets Department, $70,000 has been budgeted for a dump truck and $50,000 for a truck for a total of $120,000. The next phase of upgrades at the Holbrook Municipal Airport is an apron reconstruction, and matching funds have been budgeted for a grant for the project in the amount of $82,225. An anticipated American Relief Plan grant in the amount of $606,559 is included in the budget. The funds are earmarked for a variety of capital expenditures. “We’ll see when the grant comes and then we’ll talk about what to use them for,” stated Soltis, adding that the city may consider purchasing a dryer for the sanitation department. “Instead of taking the sludge and hauling it off to the farm, we would dry it and they would haul it someplace else,” stated Soltis. “How does that work when enterprise funds are supposed to support themselves, is it proper for us to be buying equipment?” asked Vice Mayor Francie Payne. Soltis explained that the funds coming into that department, while improving, is not enough to cover larger, necessary expenditures at this time and that this would not involve taking funds from the general fund. “With the condition that our water system is in and our sanitation system is in, any opportunity that we can get for a grant to take care of capital expenditures, that’s what we’re going to have to do. It’s going to take us awhile to start building up enough funds to get to the point where we can just make expenditures.” The water fund is budgeted with 20% for meter replacement in the amount of $80,000. “Our meters are really old and not as accurate as they should be. New meters will bring 10% better accuracy. The work will be done more quickly, freeing our staff up to do other things. That’s a good thing, that has to happen,” noted Soltis. The Lodgers Fund revenues have increased, allowing for recipients to receive some additional funds. The Navajo County Fair Board, Navajo County Historical Society and the Chamber of Commerce will each be receiving $44,000. In addition, the Hashknife Posse will once again be provided funding after that organization was excluded due to past funding shortages. “It’s a tourist related activity and an appropriate use of those funds,” stated Soltis. Regarding waste disposal a broken compacter put the fund deeper in the hole. “In addition to that, since we’re not compacting, we spent money on hauling the trash away.” Soltis stated that he is currently working on putting out to bid the trash hauling contract. The current contract is with Blue Hills Environmental, which hauls the trash to St. Johns. He noted that Waste Management is anxious to bid for the contract and since they just haul to Joseph City it is anticipated that the bid will be lower. Soltis said that the wastewater department is predicted to have a slight increase in revenues due to staffing changes in that department. There were two full-time people working in the department, now there is a full-time person and a half-time person. According to Soltis, cleanup continues on city-owned properties and the administration is working with private property owners to clean up their properties. Soltis explained that housing is an ongoing problem and contractors tend to focus their work in areas such as Phoenix where the demand is greater. “There really is a lot of interest in Holbrook; both residential and commercial. A day doesn’t go by when people aren’t calling us up talking about wanting to purchase a business, looking at some of the lots we have for sale and so on,” noted Soltis. He mentioned as he has in past meetings that the city APS (Arizona Public Service) has a website for economic development that lists the available properties for sale. “I think we’re doing good and heading in a positive direction.”
