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Cop fund may drop 10 percent

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If adopted, the Town of Camp Verde’s 2018 budget will reduce funding for the Camp Verde Marshal’s Office by 10 percent and increase Animal Control’s budget by 2 percent.

For 2018, CVMO requested $2,377,500, a 5 percent reduction from 2017’s adjusted budget of $2,512,520.

City Manager Russ Martin came back with a recommended budget of $2,273,305, a 10 percent reduction from 2017.

CVMO’s audited budget was $2,258,086 in 2015 and $2,289,328 in 2016.

This year, CVMO was budgeted for 36 full-time employees but is employing 32.

For 2018, CVMO requested budgeting for 33 full-time employees, which the city-manager recommended budget reduced to 32. CVMO employed 33 full-time employees in 2015 and 34 in 2016.

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“Understanding that there is a limited budget that the town works with, I try to keep my budget requests limited to the needs rather than the wants of the Marshal’s Office,” CVMO Marshal Nancy Gardner said.

In 2018, Gardner intends to make her part-time records clerk position a full-time position. Additionally, the need to “replace outdated mobile data computers for deputies and replace the current surveillance system at the Marshal’s Office are of top priority.”

Additional grant funding that CVMO received during the current fiscal year include:

  • $20,500 from U.S. Homeland Security for patrol handheld radios.
  • $6,500 from the Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety for DUI overtime and speed enforcement details.
  • $4,900 from GOHS for four patrol vehicle radar units and Alco-Sensors.

The CVMO budget figures do not include Animal Control. This year, that department’s adjusted budget was approved at $64,290. For 2018, Martin recommended a budget of $65,545, a 2 percent increase from 2017.

This is the same amount requested by the department. Animal Control’s audited budget was $58,941 in 2015 and $43,707 in 2016. Animal Control maintains two full-time employees, an increase of one over this year.

For 2015 and 2016, the town had two animal control officers. Camp Verde has scheduled a tentative budget approval public meeting on Wednesday, June 21.

Zachary Jernigan

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