San Luis budget includes funds for raises, roads
SAN LUIS, Ariz. — Some municipal employees will see a 6 to 7 percent pay hike as part of a multi-year plan by the city to raise salaries across the board.
The city budget for the new fiscal year that began July 1 earmarks nearly $700,000 for the raises, as well as money for street maintenance and improvements to Juan Sanchez Boulevard, one of the two major traffic arteries in San Luis.
The city council recently gave final approval to a $62.9 million spending plan for municipal government in fiscal 2018-19. That amount represents no change from the preliminary budget approved in June.
“It’s a balanced budget, following the conservative policy that we had in recent years,” City Administrator Tadeo De La Hoya said. “It will allow us to begin the first phase of a plan to increase salaries of some positions that have not been updated.”
The plan is based on a department-by-department review of salaries, he said.
“If was a long process of review of the priorities,” De La Hoya said. “The (department) directors were given the option of covering the costs of all the project they proposed in the (city’s) capital improvement plan, or assigning more funds to raise pay in those positions, and they made pay the priority.”
The capital improvement plan represents city spending on new equipment for departments, road improvements and other public works projects. With more money going for pay increases, each department eliminated those CIP projects in its budget considered of lowest priority, bringing down total spending on capital improvements from $8.6 million originally proposed to $6.5 million in the new fiscal year.
De La Hoya said the last time the city updated its employee pay scale was in 2006, although an update was proposed two years ago but ultimately rejected by the council. Since then, pay ranges for individual positions have been increased.
City officials are looking at adjusting pay scales over at least two years and maybe over a longer period, since the total costs of increases is projected to reach nearly $3 million.
One CIP project that will remain in the budget is work at the intersection of 4th Avenue and Juan Sanchez Avenue. The city plans to widen the intersection with additional lanes and install a traffic light, at an estimated cost of $720,000.
More than $500,000 is earmarked for road improvements in Plaza I, the oldest residential subdivision in San Luis, while more than $400,000 is budgeted for improvements to Merrill Avenue.
The budget also includes $300,000 for general street maintenance, $399,000 for the purchase of a specialized truck and equipment to clear sewer lines, $281,870 for the purchase of a new trash collection truck and $300,000 to refurbish city water tanks.
Also budgeted is construction of a new garage for servicing city vehicles, at a cost of $142,000, plus $433,000 for repairs to a city-owned building currently rented by the ACT call center.
Another $640,000 is set aside for improvements to the water distribution system that serves the area around the San Luis II commercial border crossing on the east side of the city.
The budget includes no increases in taxes or fees for city services, De La Hoya said.