Mayor seeks smaller property tax levy

City Council reopens budget discussions

The Yuma City Council reopened the annual budget discussion during a work session Monday, with Mayor Doug Nicholls asking for a revised budget which would take $248,000 out of the property tax increase being called for next year within the $214 million fiscal plan for 2017-18.

The preliminary budget was adopted April 5, assuming a total property tax levy of $12,629,284, an increase of almost $850,000 over the current year’s collections due to rising assessed values, even with a reduced property tax rate.

“I’d like to see a scenario with no property tax increase, no increase in the levy” except for the value of new construction, the mayor said, since that would be in line with the public feedback he and other council members have been getting.

City Administrator Greg Wilkinson said that would equate to about $247,000, and he would have his proposed cost reductions ready for the council by the next work session May 2, which is also when a citizen committee which has been reviewing the budget during the same time frame as the council will present its findings.

The council is scheduled to adopt its final budget the following night, but that could be pushed back if necessary, Nicholls said. The preliminary budget sets a cap on the total spending that can be included in the final budget.

Two weeks ago, a motion to erase the 2 percent levy increase from the preliminary budget failed an a 3-4 vote, with Nicholls joining the narrow majority.

Most of the members indicated they were interested in seeing the possibilities for further reductions, but Councilmember Edward Thomas said he was concerned about some of the ramifications of not using the 2 percent increase in the levy allowed under state law without voter approval, which the preliminary budget does.

He said the council had rolled back taxes at the beginning of his first term, and ended up behind the

cost of inflation, adopting a levy last year which was at the level it would have been if it had gone up by 2 percent every year.

“No one up here, least of all me, is for raising taxes, but the cost of doing business has increased. I’m a retired Marine, you go to the commissary and the prices have increased. So we have to allow the natural increase in the levy to go that route, because if not, we’re going to hurt ourselves as a city,” he said.

Nicholls responded, “I don’t disagree, we have to be careful, that’s part of why it’s a discussion. But for me I had to see, what does it look like? So this gives us that ability to have that discussion.”

Thomas also said he’s concerned about seeing any cuts to parks and rec programs, especially free ones that could be used by the poorest families of the city. Some free programs are not included in the preliminary budget, at a savings of about $7,000, Parks Director Debbie Wendt said.

Councilmember Mike Shelton agreed that parks and rec programs should be among the last to be reduced, saying he’s gotten universally positive comments about the decision to keep Kennedy Pool open for the upcoming summer.

“Quite frankly, one can point over the years to the city not spending the money the way it ought to over the years, and to say we ought to cut pools, I say there are better things we ought to cut as opposed to that,” he said.

The mayor responded, “I would say that, except the community actually saved Kennedy Pool, by raising funds to help offset what our needs were to keep that pool open, so I’d like to emulate your comments, except refer them to the public who stepped forward and the business community that stepped forward when we walked into that need. But it’s a very important need, I’d agree with that.”

The sharpest debate came over a $3.2 million project included in next year’s Capital Improvement Program to replace bulbs in all of the city’s streetlights with LED bulbs, projected to save the city $600,000 in energy costs annually once completed.

Councilmember Jacob Miller in particular said he would rather see that money go into repairing or rebuilding the streets themselves, and was skeptical that the cost savings from the LED lights would be anywhere near what was projected.

That money, plus at least some of the approximately $10 million expected to be carried over into the 201819 budget year between the city gas tax and highway user revenue funds. should all be spent on the roads as soon as possible, Miller said.

“This is a huge issue. I got I don’t know how many emails from citizens these last two weeks because that was brought up, and they were saying, please continue to say something on this because the roads are in such dire straits, it’s costing all of us money because of vehicle maintenance and stuff we have to do to our vehicles.”

Deputy Mayor Gary Knight and defended the streetlight project strongly. “You replace the streetlights and that $600,000 in savings goes right back in to roads, and in five years they get the $3 million, and in the next 10 years or in perpetuity, it’ll be $600,000 a year. We’ll lose all that if we don’t do it, and the quicker we do it, the quicker the $600,000 will be coming back.

Also Tuesday, the council discussed the capital improvement plan and heard the annual reports from the Amberly’s Place victim services agency and the city’s Clean and Beautiful Commission.

The council will meet for its regular meeting today at 5:30 p.m., in the council chambers at City Hall, 1 City Plaza. The agenda includes:

• A public hearing to consider the annexation of county island properties located at the northeast corner of Avenue B and 15th Street.

• A $965,800 bid contract with LPC Construction, Inc. of Yuma for the construction of the 24th Street wastewater lift station replacement. The current lift station is 40 years old and has exceeded its useful life, according to the city’s motion report.

• A $90,000 agreement with Albert Holler & Associates of Queen Creek to perform the city’s sales tax auditing services. The cost will be $60,000 in subsequent years.

• The rezoning of the property at 1540 W. 8th St. from the High Density Residential (R-3) District to the General Commercial (B-2) District. The roughly 17,000 square feet of property is location near the northwest corner of 8th Street and 15th Avenue.