City finances in ‘pretty good shape’

With nine months into the current fiscal year and three months to go, Yuma City Administrator Phil Rodriguez reported the city continues to bring in more revenues than had been budgeted.

The financial report covered the period from July 1 through March 30. With about 75% of the year complete, in most cases, revenue funds are “overperforming, meaning that we are actually bringing in more revenue that we had programmed,” Rodriguez said.

“This year is probably one of the most unique years in terms of the way we budgeted, not knowing right before COVID hit, not knowing exactly what the impacts would be. The main story here is that we’re in pretty good shape,” he explained.

Each of the major funds are doing well, all performing at 75% or greater, except grants, which is “quite low” because the city has to budget this item fairly high in the hopes that it gets grants. If the city does get grants, then they have to be budgeted before the city can spend the money.

Revenue sources are also performing at 75% or greater. One source, the vehicle license tax, has performed exceptionally high at 113%. “That can come and go,” Rodriguez said.

Most sales tax revenues are overperforming, but these have also come in waves as taxpayers

received stimulus money from the federal government. “We’ve actually seen spending ebb and flow with that as well,” Rodriguez noted.

All of these categories look as if the city is not spending money, but the city administrator explained that a lot of expenditures don’t usually hit until the second half of the year and some toward the last quarter.

“A lot of those numbers will catch up,” Rodriguez said, adding that there’s not much concern with underspending as with overspending.

“In almost every case you’ll see that we bring more revenue and underspending what we budgeted, which is all very healthy. This is all good fiscal management on part of the entire organization, and so things are looking very, very positive,” he noted.

The large enterprise funds, such as water, wastewater and solid waste, are also performing pretty close to 75%. However, spending for these funds has ramped up compared to the beginning of the year. “That’s largely based on ensuring we have the revenue before we go spend it,” Rodriguez explained.

“It is always good to see the revenues tracking ahead,” Mayor Doug Nicholls said.

In other action, the council approved the following items:

– A $101,559 purchase of Deere & Company mowers and parks equipment, with $92,805 from RDO Agriculture Equipment of Yuma and $8,754 from Simpson Norton Corporation of Goodyear.

According to a staff report, the purchase includes equipment used to maintain and beautify parks, turf and green spaces within the city. Most of these items will replace inoperable machinery or units well beyond their useful service life. Funding for this equipment comes from programs and events canceled due to COVID-19.

– A one-year contract with the option to renew for four additional oneyear periods, one period at a time, with ETIX Inc. of Morrisville, North Carolina.

A staff report explained that in 2019 the council approved a contract with Vendini Inc. for the sale of tickets for multiple venues and events hosted at Desert Sun Stadium, Yuma Art Center, Historic Yuma Theatre, Yuma Civic Center and other locations and events.

The approximate number of tickets sold for the combined venues for the current year are 20,943, which equates to a dollar amount of $378,640.

AudienceView, the parent company, elected to discontinue technical support for the Vendini box office software, making it necessary for the city to explore other solutions. Hardware previously purchased for Vendini is compatible with ETIX, which eliminates the need to purchase new hardware.

No annual maintenance fees will be incurred. The cost for support of software will be assessed to each customer transaction based on the amount of each sale, leaving no costs to the city.

Councilman Gary Knight asked about the 10% ticket fee. Staff explained that the fee, with a cap of $2.50, would be charged on top of the ticket price for tickets purchased online. The fee will not be assessed at the box office.

– An amendment to the agreement with Caballeros de Yuma in connection with the city’s annual Tunes and Tacos event. In 2017, the city and the Caballeros entered into an agreement for the marketing, sponsoring and hosting of a variety of activities and events.

The city’s annual Tunes and Tacos Festival has become one the community’s premier events and has outgrown the city’s capabilities of successfully hosting without additional resources while the Caballeros have a longstanding history of hosting many of the community’s most successful events, a staff report stated.

The Caballeros approached the city in 2019 about the possibility of hosting another premier event in Yuma. The city suggested that Caballeros co-host the April 2020 Tunes and Tacos Festival with the goal of the 2020 event being a transitional year to allow the city to hand the event over to the group on a permanent basis in 2021.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 event was postponed. The Caballeros have agreed, starting in September 2021, to incorporate the city’s annual Tunes and Tacos Festival into their portfolio of events the organization hosts and sponsors annually.