The Cottonwood City Council approved the city’s final budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year and proclaimed July 24 as Faith Moore Memorial Day during its Tuesday, July 18 meeting.
Moore died in a monsoon flooding event on July 24, 2021. After an extensive search, her body was later recovered on July 28.
Cottonwood Mayor Tim Elinski reflected on how the community and law enforcement came together in a search and rescue effort to find her.
“Her passing shook the entire community,” the proclamation stated. “Faith was a member of a prominent family here in the Verde Valley where she had lived all of her life and was well known throughout our community as a kind and loving person who was devoted to her family and friends. Faith loved to sing and dance and cook meals for her family; she also excelled at softball and soccer and played those sports on her high school’s team.
“Faith set an example for her peers by being a strong, independent, and resilient person who treated others with compassion and offered to help whenever she could. Upon learning of Faith’s passing, members of our community again came together to support Faith’s family and friends in their grief by every means possible using crowdfunding and social media campaigns, donating food, retiring her softball team number and raising money for a memorial sculpture to be made in her honor.”
“The city of Cottonwood wishes to recognize and honor Faith Moore and to commemorate the example that she set and the way in which she brought people together during her life and continues to do so today,” Elinksi said.
Cottonwood Budget
The council also adopted the city’s final budget and set its expenditure limitation. Financial Services Manager Kirsten Lennon said that there have been no changes to the tentative budget the council adopted on June 20.
The budget for the upcoming fiscal year is $154,228,910, which is $58,979,115 higher than the 2023 revised budget due to updated numbers discussed during this year’s budget work sessions, capital purchases and adjustments to rollovers due to capital projects in progress but not completed during FY 23.
The budget is set at a high number to allow for flexibility, the city stated. It is a balanced budget, meaning all expenditures have a revenue source, whether from everyday operating revenues, grants, outside financing for major projects and the use of available reserves.
The final budget was adopted by a vote of 5-1. Councilwoman Lisa DuVernay was the dissenting vote and Councilman Derek Palosaari was absent.
In addition, the council unanimously approved the contract for the completion of infrastructure for the Mingus injection well project, which will allow the city to obtain groundwater storage credits by recharging reclaimed water.
City Manager Scotty Douglass reminded residents in his report that the Cottonwood Fire Department is holding a back-to-school supply drive to support Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District students on Friday, July 28, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Cottonwood Walmart Supercenter. Requested items include pencils, dry-erase markers, crayons, markers, glue sticks, rulers, facial tissues, disinfecting wipes and looseleaf paper.
