Navajo County Supervisors approved last week the final $120 million budget for fiscal year 2015-16 as presented by Finance Director James Menlove. Menlove reiterated that the moderate budget restrains an increase in property taxes for county residents for the coming fiscal year.
“The total budget is a decrease in the tax levy for the fiscal year 2015-16, meaning that the property taxes that the county requires of citizens will be decreased,” he explained to the supervisory board.
Menlove said the conservatively balanced budget has allowed the county to focus on one of its significant priorities, public safety.
“We are working along with other public safety entities to create a regional dispatch center. Right now there are four public safety dispatch centers within the county at the Sheriff’s office, Show Low, Snowflake-Taylor and Pinetop-Lakeside. We are trying to consolidate resources, partnering with the police departments and fire districts so that there is just one dispatch center,” he related.
Every county municipality, with the exception of Winslow, has slated themselves to participate in the project. Menlove noted that an Apache County entity bordering Navajo County has also expressed an interest in joining the public safety alliance.
Menlove pointed out that the project has been a “work in progress” for the recent five to six years. He is hopeful that the participating entities will be able to complete an intergovernmental agreement within the next few months, after which business plans and related criteria can be outlined to be executed. He said that the implementation phase itself will require a minimum of one to 1.5 years.
The Board of Supervisors will hold its next regular meeting on August 25 at 9:00 AM.
