The Clarkdale Town Council adopted the town’s final budget and set forth the intent to increase the primary property tax levy at its regular meeting on June 23.
In previous budget work sessions, staff recommended increasing the property tax levy from the prior fiscal year’s amount of $728,000 to $800,000, which is an amount below the maximum allowable levy. This increases the primary tax rate from $1.3431 per thousand valuation to $1.3981.
This recommendation stemmed from a decline in recent tax revenue sources over the last few years paired with an increase in base operating costs. The decrease in tax-related revenue sources has been caused by legislative action that eliminated sales tax on long-term rentals, a slowing of taxable construction projects, and a reduction in state-shared revenue taxes.
Finance Director Brittany Earles said that in some of these cases, the tax-related revenues are lower than FY23 and FY24 totals. The levy amount adjustment will result in an annual increase of $10.79 per $100,000 of the net assessed value of a property.
Earles gave two examples of different median properties in Clarkdale to show the tax bill increase:
- For a median-priced historic home on Main Street, the increase would be by about $19.79 for a full year.
- A median-priced new home in the Mountain Gate area would increase by about $28.66 per year.
Earles said there’s a slight increase in the proposed primary tax rate for the upcoming year, but Clarkdale’s historical primary property tax rate is trending downward.
The property taxes go into the general fund, which is the primary operating governmental fund. General Fund expenditures center on municipal or government-type services that are not revenue-based. Revenues for Clarkdale’s General Fund are heavily dependent upon tax revenue and susceptible to changes in the economy across local, state, and federal levels.
About $3.1 million is from local taxes, followed by:
- $2.2 million from intergovernmental sources
- $800,000 from property tax
- $211,000 from permits and licenses
The town of Clarkdale receives about 11% of a resident’s overall property tax bill. Educational-related service providers like Mingus Union High School District, Clarkdale-Jerome School District, and Yavapai College account for 46% of a resident’s bill. Verde Valley Fire District gets 27%, and Yavapai County receives about 15% for county services like flood control and the library district.
Earles said, to put it all into perspective, the proposed property tax levy would fund 37% of Clarkdale’s police department operations for the upcoming year. The resolution to set forth the intent to increase the property tax levy was unanimously approved.
Final Budget
The final budget for the town of Clarkdale for FY27 totals $48,079,590, with $20,726,257 from grant funding.
There have been no changes to the final budget since the council adopted the tentative budget on May 26, which identified revenue and expenditure estimates. Adoption of the final budget was unanimously approved.
