At a meeting on June 4, the Cottonwood City Council approved its Tentative Budget for Fiscal Year 2020, after several months of combined work by the council and the Cottonwood administrativeservices department. The vote was unanimous, after a presentation by Financial Services Director Kirsten Lennon.
The total expenditure limit of the approved tentative budget is $76,016,900, which represents a 17% increase on the city’s final 2019 expenditures of $64,862,105. According to the budget estimates, the city expects total expenditures for the fiscal year of $48,258,125, compared to $37,245,220 in 2019, a 30% increase. Last year’s expenditures were revised down from an original expectation of $44,713,915 in the tentative budget, which makes the change in approved tentative budgets just 7.9%.
The budget anticipates$26,055,320 to be transferred to the city’s reserves, with $1,703,455 remaining that is transferred out to other governments. In 2018, the city passed a 0.5% increase in its sales tax, with the goal of increasing its reserves, as well as paying down pension liabilities and funding road and sidewalk maintenance.
Road improvements were one of the reasons for higher budget expenditures in this fiscal year compared to the last one. According to Lennon at the June 4 meeting, some of the significant new expenditures that lead to a budget increase for this year include:
- $42,000 for police body cameras.
$15,000 to hire a local agency for street cleaning in Old Town. - 25 cent per hour increase to paramedic pay for the Cottonwood Fire Department.
- Stipend for an acting engineer starting Jan. 1.
- $227,000 for increased Verde LYNX hours, at the request of the city of City of Sedona. Cottonwood hopes to pay for the additional costs through a grant from ADOT, but Sedona has promised to supply the funding if not, so either way it is not expected to come from Cottonwood’s revenues.
- $150,000 of street maintenance received from the state budget. Lennon said that the total amount received from the legislature may be higher.
- Salary for a full accounting specialist.
- Salary for a full time graphic design and marketing specialist, replacing a part-time marketing specialist in the Parks and Recreation department. The new employee will work for both the economic development and parks and rec departments and will be paid through the bed tax.
- 2% cost-of-living increase for all non-contract employees.
- 6% health insurance premium increase.
- $561,565 for equipment related to capital improvement projects.
According to Lennon, the city is also receiving slightly higher revenues this year due to several grants, including one from FEMA for Old Town flood plain restoration, and a grant going to the airport.
Correction: The print version of this article falsely stated that the tax increase passed in 2018 was 0.65%, not 0.5%.
