The Cottonwood CityCouncil reinstated and lowered bus fees for the Verde Shuttle, approved the Fiscal Year 2022 tentative budget and approved the hiring of a shared Verde Valley Housing Manager with Sedona at its June 15 meeting.
Bus Fees
The council voted to reinstate fees, though at a lower rate, for the Verde Shuttle after waiving them during the COVID-19 pandemic. Buses will start charging for rides again starting July 1.
Instead of the prior $1.25 bus fare the city used to charge, it will now only cost $1 to ride the Verde Shuttle. There will still be a 50% discount for veterans, seniors, students and low-income riders.
Deputy City Manager Rudy Rodriguez said they decided to reduce the fare to help make the process more efficient.
“It a lot easier for us, and after learning a few things from the pandemic, we realize it’s probably a lot safer for us to not be issuing change,” he said.
The change is not expected to significantly impact revenue from the bus that goes to the general fund, as they anticipate more people will ride the bus with the reduced fare.
Shared Housing Manager
The council unanimously voted to approve an agreement with the city of Sedona to start the process for hiring a shared housing manager to address the lack of affordable housing in the Verde Valley.
Cottonwood will be entering into a two-year agreement with Sedona to share an expert in resolving housing issues. The housing manager will be a Sedona employee who will split time between the two cities.
The city of Cottonwood will be responsible for paying 45% of the employee’s salary and benefits while Sedona will be responsible for 55%. Cottonwood plans to use savings from its CARES Act distribution to pay for its share.
Sedona will take charge of recruiting a hiring manager and the city of Cottonwood will be allowed to share its input and say yes or no to any of the potential candidates, Town Manager Ron Corbin said.
“I believe that it’s a great opportunity to partner, so we worked on the job description together [with Sedona] that set the requirements and the expectations, the education, the experience level,” he said. “It’s not common to share positions among cities, but this just seemed like a good fit.”
Tentative Budget Adoption
The council unanimously approved the Fiscal Year 2022 tentative budget for the city. The approved budget is a total of $120,593,060, which is nearly $45 million higher than the 2021 budget.
Several changes were made to the tentative budget from the proposed budget presented in April, including $20,960,000 in Unfunded Liability Pension Bonding, $450,000 for an AWOS grant-funded project, an increase of $636,230 to the Community Development Block Grant Program fund to help pay for playground equipment and for the Verde Valley Homeless Coalition, $50,000 more in the Library Fund for a sidewalk project, $225,000 for transit and a few minor adjustments for employee salaries and benefits.
The budget includes funding for seven new full-time employees and enough to cover a 6% increase in health insurance premiums and a 3% increase in dental insurance for employees.
Corbin said the town will continue to budget a 90-day reserve of 25% to put into the general fund for emergencies or unexpected things, like the pandemic, for a total of $5,771,120.
Mayor Tim Elinski said he’s glad to see the city in such a financially stable situation and put so much into a reserve. He is also especially proud of its ability to provide the fire and police departments with the budget they requested.
“Fire and PD both I think maybe didn’t get absolutely everything they asked for but pretty darn close and that’s just amazing. So I’m really, really proud of that,” he said.
