Clarkdale Town Manager Susan Guthrie and Finance Director Julie Goucher presented the town’s draft budget for fiscal year 2024- 25 during a Town Council meeting on Tuesday, May 14. The $43,695,019 budget — up from $35,724,945 in 2023-24 — is focused on planning, which Guthrie and Goucher said is critical to figure out the town’s needs.
Guthrie announced that the town was awarded a $280,000 grant for the Cement Plant Road multimodal transportation design project at the previous budget meeting.
The town’s largest source of revenue is sales tax and Guthrie encouraged residents to shop locally so that the town will receive the sales tax from their purchases. The property tax rate will be declining from $1.415 in FY24 to $1.344 in FY25. State shared income tax is expected to decline by about $204,000 due to the implementation of a state flat tax and the town will lose about $125,000 in rental tax revenue due to the abolition of rental tax by the legislature. Local revenue is expected to increase due to the sales tax.
Staff have budgeted $1.98 million for transfer to the general fund for capital improvements and $24.2 million for town capital improvement projects. Contingencies make up 24% of the general fund proposed budget.
Guthrie and Goucher stated that certain revenue streams can only be used for certain purposes and that such restrictions are the reason why they cannot allocate certain funding for specific projects as requested by members of the public.
The budget has increased due to economic development incentives, an increase in insurance costs and an increase for the police department due to the addition of a new position in FY24. The largest increase was in contingencies and transfers to fund emergencies and capital projects.
Guthrie broke down the distribution of the town’s property tax revenue: The town receives 11% of residents’ property tax payments, while 26% goes to the Verde Valley Fire District, 19% goes to the Clarkdale-Jerome School District and 17% goes to the Mingus Union High School District. She said that the money the town receives from property taxes does not even cover the police department’s budget.
Capital improvement projects planned include improvements to the town building, completing Selma-Mongini Park, completing the town gazebo, trail planning, installing broadband and building a groundwater well and treatment plant.
The public hearing on the budget will be on May 28, when the tentative budget will be adopted and the upper expenditure limit set, followed by a hearing on and adoption of the final budget on June 25.
