County Administrator: Budget most challenging since Great Recession

Delay in purchases and expenses results in ‘balanced’ budget of $288.9 million

The 2020-2021 budget process has been more challenging than any previous budget going back to the Great Recession, said Yuma County Administrator Susan Thorpe during an overview of the tentative budget with supervisors last Monday.

She pointed to the COVID-19 pandemic, which closed schools, restricted travel and shut down most businesses and retailers. All of this has resulted in reduced revenue for the state and the county, impacting property taxes, state-shared taxes and county sales taxes, the county’s top three revenue sources.

The county still doesn’t know the full impact of the pandemic. “The impact on our future revenue picture is unknown. Receipts for sales taxes lag by two months so we won’t even know the impact of the shutdown on April’s revenues until midJune,” Thorpe explained.

Nevertheless, she noted, “the tentative budget is responsible and balanced and remains flexible and adaptable to future changes.”

The fund appropriations for which the county is responsible total $288.9 million, a 2.56% increase over the previous year.

The county obligations include required increases for state pension plans and the minimum wage, capital investment for essential technology replacement, debt service, support to districts, grant matching and subsidies, and vehicle replacements, which staff recommends be put off until Jan. 1, or until there are sufficient revenues.

“We’ve identified a number of goals going into the budget year, especially in

light of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Thorpe said.

First, the county is looking at every expenditure from the ground up and carefully examining requests from departments and agencies, focusing on the high priority needs.

“In light of COVID-19 uncertain revenues, we’re not able to recommend as many requests as we could normally have done out of an abundance of caution for future revenue uncertainties,” Thorpe said.

She explained that the tentative budget also takes into account the need to closely monitor revenues in order to authorize major spending commitments. Funding for some major items will be delayed into late December or early January to ensure sufficient revenues are coming in to be able to afford them. Some of the delayed spending includes salary adjustments, major equipment purchases, vehicles and some capital projects.

The budget includes funding for all current positions, a half-step salary increase, or roughly 1% for all pay plans, in addition to half-step or anniversary day increases for eligible employees.

Health insurance rates will remain flat with no increase in employee premiums. However, there is a 1.5% increase from 37.5% to 39% for the employee share of the dependent premiums.

Thorpe recognized the Jail District, noting that “the sheriff runs a very efficient operation.” She noted that the Jail District assists the general fund in a number of ways. The sheriff has never charged a per diem housing fee for the inmates going through the Restoration to Competency Program. She equated this to savings of about $2.4 million to the general fund, “so I want to acknowledge and thank the sheriff for that service and his partnership,” she said.

The general fund budget is $88.2 million, a .45% increase. The fund balance is 20.34%, which is within the board’s policy of at least 20%.

The county carefully scrutinized requests for new positions for next fiscal year. Thirteen positions were requested. However, the tentative budget adds only five new positions, including two sheriff’s deputies and associated vehicles and equipment, at a cost of $1.45 million.

The county also approved additional overtime for the medical examiner as well as funding for “exceptional” employees for up to 10% of employees in each department and for a Precinct 3 constable, should one be elected for the first time this fall.

The general fund includes four ongoing capital projects and one new project. The ongoing projects are the 197 Administration Annex Renovation Phase 3; APS Power to Waste Tire Facility and North Gila Transfer Site (which will be split funded with the special revenue fund); Adair Archery Range Environmental Remediation; and Oracle System Update and Enterprise Resource Plan upgrade. The new project is an ITS server platform upgrade.

The special revenue fund includes three new and three ongoing housing projects. The ongoing projects include building and site improvements at the Valley Vista, Pecan Shadows, Yuma Moctezuma and San Luis housing projects as well as numerous road construction and flood control projects.

New projects include a Health Building entrance remodel and building expansion, a Public Works Tacna Shop and chip seal and irrigation culvert replacement road construction.

The tentative budget includes a property tax levy at a combined tax rate of $3.6638, which is a reduction of $0.0206 from 2019-2020. Yuma County’s median home value for residential property is $163,000. If a home’s value remains the same, there will be a $3.36 reduction in the homeowner’s county taxes.

The county would collect a tax levy of $32.3 million, an increase of $828,532.

“The board has adopted a levy well below the allowable amount for the last nine years,” Thorpe said.

On June 22, the county will hold a combined budget and Truth in Taxation hearing and potentially adopt the final budget.