SAFFORD — The Graham County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Monday to adopt the county’s final budget of $80.48 million.
“We’ve taken a pretty aggressive list of projects going into this budget, again, spending about $1.5 million over our revenues, dipping into those reserve funds to do those much-needed projects. We’re just very appreciative that we’re able to do that,” said Graham County Manager Dustin Welker.
Welker listed a number of those improvement projects, including:
● Graham Courthouse restrooms remodel and improved interior lighting
● Jail security fencing
● Developing structures at transfer sites
● Supervisors’ offices remodel
● Improving the adult entrance at Probation
● Replacing the lights at baseball field 1, repairing drainage, developing a landscaping design plan, painting structures, re-roofing armadas, replacing tables and benches, improved signage, replacing toilets and drinking fountains, installing fans in buildings and the bandstand, and replacing the rubber under the playground area with a synthetic tile surface all at the Fairgrounds
● Building a respite center for the homeless
● Redistricting
● Gila River Linear Park
● The Gila River mitigation project, Gila Watershed Plan and the Stockton Dam study
● Fort Thomas Bridge replacement, shoulders on Golf Course Road and Cottonwood Wash Road, chip sealing Swift Trail, improving Holyoak Wash and Thatcher Bridge approaches, repairing the Gila Avenue and Highway 70 intersection, and improving the drainage on Peck Wash
Despite the increased number of improvement projects, the county reduced the property tax levy this year, going from $2.75 per $1,000 assessed valuation in 2021, to $2.6043 in 2022.
“I feel like we’ve presented a very conservative budget, as has been our history, to the Graham County tax payers,” Welker said. “We will continue to operate at the county with the least burden on the taxpayer.”
