SAFFORD — The Safford City Council approved its next budget, with a 26 percent increase over the current year.
During the regular meeting Monday, June 10, the council voted unanimously to adopt the fiscal year 2024-25 budget at $102.7 million.
“The budget for capital project expands the largest increase, rising by $13 million, a 46-percent jump. Additionally, the contingency fund also saw an increase of $5 million,” said Matthew Hoshal, deputy Finance officer.
Also increasing were personnel costs, as well as operations and maintenance; however, debt decreased by about $8,000.
The city is expecting to see a $29,000 increase in property tax revenue, due to the rising values on homes, a $680,000 increase in city sales tax revenue and a $25,000 increase in state shared sales tax revenue. Also expected to increase slightly are revenues from sales of cemetery plots.
Income from the Library, from fines and investment interest is expected to remain flat.
However, due to the adoption of a flat tax by the state Legislature, the city is anticipating a drop of $540,000 in state shared income tax revenue.
To ensure the city stays within budget, especially in the event of an unforeseen economic downturn, City Manager John Cassella said the city will conduct regular fiscal review.
“What we’re going to be doing, which we haven’t done since I’ve been here, is to introduce quarterly meetings with our departments to do, what we call, budget variance analysis. In other words, when we look at the budget as given, and then we look at the actual on a quarterly basis,” Cassella said.
The city’s budget is $22 million below the state’s expenditure limit.
