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The Winslow City Council, in the absence of members Bob Schlesinger and Marshal Losey, approved the budget for fiscal year 2019-2020 last week.
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The budget process, which began late last year, has consisted of public hearings, work sessions, adoption of a tentative budget and finally the adoption of the final budget. Winslow City Manager, John Barkley had this to say, “The budget has been distributed as it was presented during the tentative approval process. It has been a difficult challenge to undertake but I think we did it successfully.”
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Council member Rickey Jackson said, “Just for the record, as we move forward in adoption of this budget, we need to be careful in our expenditures. Our job as a city is to provide the resources we need and our job as the council is to bring in more business and to improve the infrastructure. Our infrastructure is failing so as we move forward, I think we need to concentrate on that. If we don’t increase our revenues, we will not be able to continue to improve our quality of life here. We need to proceed with caution.”
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Mayor Tom McCauley agreed with Jackson and said, “We do have some big expenses in this budget: our capital expenses, which are one-time expenditures that will be good for our city. But I am with Rickey, we did put a cap on our budget during the tentative approval so we can’t work over our number, but we can work under it. I would really stress to staff and our department heads to try to cut that budget down from five to seven percent within the next year.
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“We have to remember that one of our biggest revenues, the sales tax from one of the auto dealers that isn’t here anymore, is gone. We won’t be seeing that this year. The other thing is, we ran off a bunch of truckers that were spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in Winslow every year, so that sales tax is gone too. We will be addressing that issue, how we are going to accommodate those trucks.
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“Our businesses are losing money, I know that, I hear that, I see that. We have resources to work together to bring those back and capture that state shared revenue.”
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The total revenues projected for Winslow in fiscal year 2020 is $27.6 million, an increase over fiscal year 2019 of $2.4 million and total expenditures are projected to equal nearly $30.8 million. That is a $4.6 million increase from the actualized expenditures last year.
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During the meeting, McCauley spoke about accomplishments from his first year in office. “I asked staff to put together a list of things that this council has accomplished since we first took office on June 5 last year. They put together eight pages. I want to acknowledge our staff. Between our city manager and clerks and everyone at the PD and fire department and public works, it is unbelievable to see what they are all capable of. A copy of my State of the City is available at city hall, or the website.”
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McCauley then continued with his concern for mandated two-man crews on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad (BNSF) as mentioned at the last council meeting. He said, “I was able to meet with a staffer from Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s office last week. I was requesting support for the two-man crews and she let me know that Sinema has been informed of the issue. I asked if Sinema would be interested in introducing a bi-partisan bill mandating these crews. I look forward to hearing her response. I will bring it up again at the Greater Arizona Mayor’s Association meeting, as I will be meeting with mayors from Navajo and Apache counties.”
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The council also heard the monthly financial report from Finance Director Elias Jouen. Citywide revenues for the month of May totaled $2.6 million bringing the year to date total to $16.6 million. Expenditures for the month totaled $589,761 with the year to date total to $6.4 million, or 65 percent of the budget for fiscal year 2018-2019. Figures for investment and restricted funds were also provided to the council.
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Following the report, Councilman Jackson said, “I noticed that there is about $1 million less in the investment balance in May than in April. What is that based on, where does that money come from and why is there such a drop?”
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To which Jouen responded, “I can double check and get back with you.”
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Councilwoman Samantha Crisp also asked about the report. “In May, our revenue doesn’t match what is on the last page of your report, the fund summary. Specifically, the expenditures from April to May in capital projects fund revenues and expenditures and the general fund expenditures. Those three items didn’t change from April to May. I am wondering why those numbers are the same.”
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To which Jouen again responded that he would double check and let the council know.”
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In a follow up interview with Crisp, she explained that Jouen’s response was not thorough enough and she will be seeking a more comprehensive explanation.
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In other business, the council:
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* Heard a report from the Public Housing Authority Manager Kim Salazar. She explained that the program currently has a very extensive waiting list and can often take more than a year for people to be accepted from the list.
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* Approved the 2019-2020 operating budget of the Public Housing Authority.
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* Approved the waiver of outstanding tenant accounts in a routine semi-yearly procedure that allows the program to report outstanding accounts to the Federal Housing Authority and pursue collections.
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* Approved the waiver of permit fees for vendors attending Clear Creek Days July 20-21.
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* Adopted a pension funding policy as mandated by Arizona Revised Statutes.
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The next meeting of the Winslow City Council will be at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 9, in the council chambers, located at 115 E. Second St.
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