Carefree Truth
                       Issue #742, April 29, 2019


Fiscal Year (FY) 2019/2020
Budget Workshop #2

Gary Neiss
Photo by Herbert Hitchon

Town Administrator Gary Neiss presented the outline of how operational expenses/investments impact the Town's expenses in the upcoming Fiscal Year (FY), and the forecasted revenues to pay for these.  The numbers are rounded for simplification.


Estimated Revenue
The overall estimated revenue is $7 million.  The main contributors are the population based State Revenue Sharing (19%) and Local Revenue (81%).  63% of the local revenue is generated by the 3% sales tax.  37% is generated by user fees and cost recovery.  These include building fees, utility right-of-way (ROW) fees, court fees, special event fees, and agreements.  There is no local Carefree property tax.


Local Fees-Municipal Sales Tax, $3.6 million (51%):
New home starts remain strong with 26 new single family homes last FY and at least 18 in the permitting stages for the next FY.  The new storage facility is nearing completion and Civana's remodeling is finished.  The Hampton Inn and new town homes within the Town Center anticipate construction to begin in mid to late summer.  Large anchor businesses are performing well due to strong residential growth in the primary trade area.  The restaurant business continues to improve with the introduction of Keeler's Steakhouse and with a new pizza restaurant coming in the fall, both located in Spanish Village.  Development plans for the new commercial center at the N.E. corner of Carefree Highway and Cave Creek Road are moving forward.

Projection:
The past 10 years sales tax revenue ranged from $2.7 million to $3.5 million.  Based on current collections and the above indicators, a continued growth to $3.6 million is estimated for the upcoming FY.


Local Fees-User Fees/Cost Recovery, $2.1 million (30%):
Special events ($690,000)
Building fees ($375,000)
Utility fees ($350,000)
Court fees ($310,000)
Rentals ($90,000)
Interest ($85,000)
Miscellaneous ($240,000)


State Shared Revenue, $1.3 million (19%):
Trends-There was an 8% increase in State Shared Revenues from the previous year.  There are consistent proposals at the State level to reduce the shared revenues.  The League of Cites and Towns is a fantastic organization that works to protect local control and ensures State Shared revenues, keeping your taxes going back into your community.  Carefree will begin to see more a proportional reduction resulting from rapidly growing communities (Census 2020), making it vital that all Carefree residents be counted.

State Estimates-State Sales Tax, $400,000 (30%)
State Income Tax, $500,000 (38%)
Vehicle License Tax (VLT), $175,000 (13%)
Highway User Revenue Fund (HURF), $260,000 (19%)




Estimated General Fund Expenses-$7.0 million
Human Resources-$1.6 million (23%)
Operations-$2.4 million (34%)
Public Safety-$2.0 million (29%)
Capital Improvements-$1.0 million (14%)


Human Resources-$1.6 million:
"Employees are any organization's greatest asset-they're your competitive advantage.  You want to attract and retain the best; provide them with encouragement, stimulus,and make them feel that they are an integral part of the organization's mission."

Public Works-4 full time employees (FTE)
Court-2 FTE
Clerk-2 FTE
Support-2 FTE
Building Safety-1 FTE
P&Z-1 FTE
Code Enforcement-1 FTE
Marketing- 1 FTE
Management-2 FTE

From a comparative perspective, the Town of Cave Creek, a similar sized community with similar operational demands has 25 FTE, $1.4 million more in salaries and benefits, and a 4 day work week.  Carefree's small, cross trained, dedicated staff has been a role model of efficiency.  The health insurance pool, RAUGHT, has delivered in mitigating annual rate increases.  This year, there will be NO increase.  Anticipated costs for the next fiscal year salaries and benefits will be $1.6 million with cost of living and merit increases.



Operations-supplies, equipment, materials, utilities, contracts-$2.4 million:

Internal Operations-$1.1 million:
Public Works-48%
Marketing-16%
Administration-15%
Court-8%
Fire-7%
Clerk-4%
P&Z-1%
Building Safety-1%
Code Enforcement-0%

Contractual Support Services-$1.3 million:
Event Logistics-37%
Engineering-31%
Legal-12%
Risk Management-8%

Landscape-7%
Inspection-5%


Public Safety-$2.0 Million:
Fire Contract-73%
MCSO (police)-23%
Prosecution-3%
Posse-1%
Animal Control-0%

https://vimeo.com/332365361


Capital Projects/Assets-Infrastructure investments-
$4.5 million:
Street maintenance (paid for using HURF, SW Gas Capital Fund, and Capital Reserves)

Water Infrastructure
Pedestrian Crossing Improvements
Median Landscaping
Signage Improvements


Capital Reserves-$9.3 million:
Town Reserves are at an all time high, approaching a 50% increase since 2005, as a result of good fiscal restraint and management.  The Town is positioned for a period of financial reinvestment in its infrastructure.


With a continued strong economy, the Town is experiencing a continued growth in revenues with an anticipated $7 million in the new fiscal year.  Organizational expenses focus on improving efficiencies such as new archival software for public records, new equipment for public works, replacement of deteriorating equipment for the fire department, and enhancements to event cost recovery models.  There is a tremendous focus now and into the immediate future on infrastructure investment with approximately $4.5 million budgeted in Capital Improvements.  The estimated overall budget, which includes operational costs and capital improvements, will be approximately $10.8 million.  The numbers were being fine tuned, and the line item budget was expected to be available within a couple of days of the meeting.


On April 30th, the final budget meeting will be held to review and discuss the draft of the line item budget.  On May 7th, the tentative budget/bottom line will be adopted.  On June 4th, the final budget will be considered for adoption, and on July 1st, the new FY begins.

https://vimeo.com/332371473


Lyn Hitchon


Prepared by Carefree Truth
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