2nd Ave. upgrades added to city plan

Council adopts final budget of $220.2 million

Residents who refused to back down succeeded in convincing most members of the Yuma City Council to include their street in the Capital Improvement Plan, which lists projects that the city hopes to get done in the next few years.

After holding public hearings, the council adopted both the CIP for fiscal years 2019 to 2023 and the final budget for 2018-19 during the Wednesday meeting. The $220.2 million budget includes a CIP budget of $40.6 million and an operating budget of $179.6 million.

The council adopted the amended plan after a motion by Councilman Mike Shelton to include street improvements to 2nd Avenue, between 10th and 12th streets. The former county island was annexed by the city in 2007, but Shelton noted that residents have been asking for sidewalks, curb gutters and lighting for 20 years.

Juan Leal-Rubio, speaking on behalf of neighbors, said while surrounding areas have been improved, 2nd Avenue has been treated as a “leftover street.” He pointed out that the area is undergoing a major transition, with multimillion dollar city facilities being built nearby and construction of several single-family homes.

Leal-Rubio said those improvements were made with grants or city funds, not through an improvement district. Officials have repeatedly said that annexed areas pay for upgrades through improvement districts. Residents have previously said that some neighbors could not afford to contribute money to an improvement district.

“My motion at least puts 2nd Avenue on the docket,” Shelton said, recognizing that city staff has yet to do a cost analysis for the project and the city might not have funds to do the project right away.

Councilman Edward Thomas said he feared setting a precedent against standard practice and noted that the council had already directed staff to look for grants to pay for the improvements. “If

they want to have improvements, said improvement district would be the way to go,” he said.

Knight said he supported including the project and that matching funds required by grants could be covered by an improvement district.

The council voted 5-1 to amend the CIP, with Thomas voting against the motion.

The council then adopted the amended CIP with a 5-1 vote, with Councilman Jacob Miller voting against it. The council also approved a correction to the Request for City Council Action that incorrectly stated the CIP amount.

After the meeting, Shelton told the Yuma Sun he was very pleased that his fellow councilors agreed to place the project in the CIP.

“I met with residents a couple of days ago and they wondered if it would ever get anywhere, and I committed myself to helping them get some traction, at least putting it in print so it wouldn’t be lost. Out of sight is out of mind, and now it’s in sight,” he said.

During the final budget hearing, Miller called for removing health insurance from the Mayor and Council Fund and using that money for needed expenses, in particular the police department. He explained that his understanding is that health insurance is added compensation, which is set by voters.

City Attorney Richard Files clarified that insurance is not taxable by the IRS and therefore is not considered compensation. City Administrator Greg Wilkinson further explained that insurance is part of the benefits offered to council members, such as travel reimbursement.

Miller’s motion died for lack of a second.

At this point, resident Russell McCloud, who also serves as a county supervisor, asked to speak. He said he was “shocked” to learn that council members were not covered under the city’s health plan until recently. He assumed they would be covered like any other employee since they receive a paycheck from the city and have offices in City Hall.

“Clearly you are city employees and deserve the same benefits as other city employees. I know how much time and effort goes into doing your job and doing it well,” McCloud said, adding, “Do what is right for yourselves and those who come after you.”

Miller argued that council members are not fulltime employees and parttime employees don’t get benefits. He reiterated that he wanted more money for police officer salaries so they won’t leave for higherpaying cities.

The council adopted the final budget on a 5-2 vote, with Miller and McClendon voting against it. Miller said during Tuesday’s work session that he wanted more time to review the budget.

After the meeting, McClendon told the Yuma Sun that the reason she voted against adoption is because the city had one more meeting before it was required to approve the final budget.

“Most importantly what I wanted to get across is the fact that if any other council members had more questions that they wanted to ask and also important that if the community had anything else they wanted to talk about, they had the opportunity to ask those questions,” she said.

In addition, the council was introduced to an ordinance setting the 2018-2019 Primary Property Tax Rate at $2.2747 for each $100 of assessed valuation and the Mall Maintenance District Property Tax Rate at $4.6718 on each $100 of assessed valuation.

The primary property tax is anticipated to raise $12.6 million in tax revenue, based on assessed valuations provided by the Yuma County Assessor. The rate decreased from the 2017-2018 rate of $2.3001.

The Mall Maintenance District tax rate is higher than the 2017-2018 tax rate of $4.4889. It is anticipated to raise about $106,825 in tax revenues, slightly higher than current year’s levy of $105,000.

Thomas asked Chief Financial Officer Pat Wicks whether it would be a good idea to raise the property tax rate by 1 percent to avoid “trouble” in the future. Wicks explained that the city would have to conduct a Truth in Taxation hearing, which requires publishing notices telling the public what the city intends to do and setting a hearing date.

He added that it might be too late at this point since the council already adopted the budget. “It would be messy to say the least.”

The tax rates are expected to come before the council for adoption at the June 20 meeting.