The Camp Verde Town Council unanimously approved a final budget for 2019-20 at a special budget meeting held on Wednesday, July 17. The council had previously approved the tentative budget at a meeting on June 19.
The total expenses of the approved final budget total $27,307,337, which is actually higher than the $22,898,434 in revenues that the town accounts for in its fiscal year. According to town finance director, Michael Showers, this discrepancy comes from the inclusion of ongoing projects in the 2019-2020 budget, such as the Camp Verde Sports Complex, even if the funding was allocated in years past.
“This is something that does happen, every single year,” Showers told the council at Wednesday’s meeting. “The reason for that is pretty simple — it usually has to do with how aggressive the town is doing projects, most specifically grant projects and debt projects.”
Showers compared the situation to the town allocating funds to build a park bench that is then not built until the following year.
In the 2019-2020 budget document approved by the council, the parks fund’s balance decreases by $3,119,823, representing the vast majority of the deficit, as much of the fund last year came from debt incurred by the town for the park construction.
Notwithstanding the budget roll-overs that lead to expenses being higher than revenues this year, both expenses and revenues showed signs of improving this year.
Revenues increased by $3,638,991 compared to the 2018-2019 budget total of $19,259,443, a growth rate of 18.9%, while expenses declined from $28,476,143 by $1,168,806, or 4.2%.
The increased revenues are attributed to higher sales tax revenues, especially in the retail, construction, and restaurant sectors, though the tax rate remained constant.
According to Town Manager Russ Martin at the June 19 meeting, the town approved merit pay increases for city employees requested by department heads, with the exception of the department heads themselves. The town also approved a cost of living increase for the Camp Verde Marshal’s Office staff equal to 75% of what was requested.
