The Clarkdale Town Council adopted the town’s final budget at their regular meeting on Tuesday, June 24, for fiscal year 2025-2026 in the amount of $47,384,536.
The council adopted the tentative budget on May 27 following two budget work sessions in April.
Town Manager Susan Guthrie gave a presentation on the FY26 budget, which ends on June 30, 2026. It’s an 8% increase from the FY25 budget, which was approximately $43.7 million. Roughly $7.5 million is budgeted in the General Fund, $995,000 in the Highway User Revenue Fund and nearly $25 million in grants.
Due to the new state flat tax, the state-shared income tax budget decreased by approximately $67,000 and the total city sales tax budget decreased by $250,000, due to the cessation of the rental tax and a decrease in consumer confidence, according to Guthrie. Over the past few years, the town has seen a loss of approximately $500,000, which is caused by many factors, with a large one being construction sales tax.
Guthrie added that the town needs some construction because it’s a large generator of sales tax. Following the passing of a state law prohibiting rental taxes, Clarkdale is seeing about $150,000 in lost revenue.
Local taxes are a large portion of the General Fund revenues, bringing in roughly $2.9 million — Guthrie added that this is why the city always pushes residents to shop locally. She clarified that if residents shop at other big box stores in Cottonwood, Clarkdale does not receive any tax revenue, but if for residents who order online and get items delivered, the town does receives sales tax from the online vendor — which could include local big box stores.
Another large portion is money received from the state — at $2.2 million — while property taxes bring in $728,000. Guthrie noted that the money the town receives from property taxes is not even enough to fund the town’s police services.
In the General Fund expenditure, a tax-supported fund, 25% is budgeted towards the police department and 27% in contingency. Guthrie clarified that a large amount is set aside for contingencies because in Arizona, towns and cities cannot amend their budgets midyear, so Clarkdale takes savings and puts it in contingency in the event of an emergency.
The General Fund revenue from FY 25 to FY 26 saw the local sales tax decrease by roughly $350,000 and the state shared revenue — from state income taxes — decrease by about $300,000.
“Those are our revenue streams and they’re going down,” Guthrie noted.
The largest sales tax comes from retail at 23%, with remote retail at 14%.
Councilwoman Laura Jones clarified that she felt it was important for residents to understand that Clarkdale itself only gets a very small portion of the overall property tax bill.
The majority of property taxes go to the Verde Valley Fire District at 27%, followed by the Clarkdale-Jerome School District at 18%, Mingus Union High School District at 16%, Yavapai County at 13%, Yavapai Community College at 12% and the town of Clarkdale at 11%.
“Everybody gets more of your property tax than we do and we just think it’s an important story to really realize,” Guthrie added.
In the General Fund budget, a 4% cost-of-living adjustment was included for town staff. The town has decided to invest in its current employees rather than adding new ones, Guthrie said. Outside of a couple of part-time positions, the town is not adding any full-time new staff positions this year.
The budget includes $27.3 million for townwide capital improvement projects, with $5.1 million from the existing fund balance and $22.2 million from grants.
Guthrie noted that if the town wasn’t applying for grants, the number of capital improvement projects would be significantly lower.
Capital Improvements
Capital improvement projects all align with a goal from Clarkdale’s strategic plan, Guthrie said.
▪ Projects that align with Goal Area 1 — enhancing the quality of life for residents, businesses and visitors — include repairs to the Clarkdale Community Clubhouse’s roof, Town Hall exterior and updated tasers and body cameras for the Clarkdale Police Department.
▪ Projects for Goal Area 2 — enhancing availability of parks and more recreation — includes completion of the Selna-Mongini Park at 39 N. 9th St.
▪ Projects for Goal Area 3 — strengthening the local economy — include construction of Bitter Creek Bridge and the continued funding of the tourism marketing program using hotel tax revenue.
▪ Projects for Goal Area 4 — maintenance of infrastructure — includes the pavement management program and numerous water and wastewater projects that were laid out in the Water/Wastewater Master Plan earlier this year.
▪ Projects for Goal Area 5, focused on organizational development, include the continued funding of COLAs, employee retention and career ladders. Guthrie stated that the town doesn’t want its employees to move to other towns or cities in order to move upwards in their career, rather she wants to create those opportunities locally.
▪ Goal Area 6, which adopts water conservation strategies, includes 18 water and sewer projects.
From FY 23 to FY 25, the town was awarded $15.2 million in grants, which played a significant role in accomplishing projects in town.
“We are not arbitrarily making decisions,” Mayor Robyn Prud’homme-Bauer said. “These are very intentional, they are very concrete. We believe and our neighbors and friends tell us, this is how we want our money spent in Clarkdale, for our town of Clarkdale. And if we’re not spending it the way you want us to spend it, you’ve got to come tell us …. The kind of work we’re doing keeps us alive, it keeps us vibrant, it keeps this town moving forward. It continues to make Clarkdale the special place we all want it to be.”
The final budget was adopted unanimously.
Property Tax Levy
The council held a public hearing and voted unanimously to set forth the intent to raise the property tax levy.
Guthrie said the town is raising the levy, not increasing the rate. The property tax rate will stay the same while the levy is increased by about 9.24%, providing an additional $61,000 in annual primary property tax revenue.
The FY 25 primary tax rate of $1.3443 per thousand valuation, resulting in a total primary property tax collection of $667,000. For FY 26, the expected primary property tax collection is estimated at $728,000.
Final adoption of the ordinance adopting the property tax levy and setting property valuations will take place at the council meeting on Tuesday, July 8.
