Chandler develops budget, keeps DEI programs amid federal instability

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

When Donald Trump won the November 2024 U.S. presidential election, it sent shockwaves through all sorts of fiscal and economic structures, including municipal budget planning.

Those shockwaves continue to be felt in Chandler — though probably in more subtle ways than in other cities.

Reserves and new hiring

Dawn Lang, the city’s chief financial officer, presented an overview of prudent reserves and other high-level fiscal aspects of city finance to the Chandler City Council at a May 2 daylong budget briefing. She said with so much talk about a possible recession, staff recommends a $10 million “budget stabilization reserve” in case it’s needed.

Lang said with the general fund being the largest and most-flexible fund, staff use financial forecasts and projections in order to make several annual recommendations to council.

Part of those projections involve setting a reserve amount needed to fund city operations if revenues come in below forecast amounts. This year, Lang said, that reserve amount is $10 million.

“There’s been talk about a recession,” Lang said. “There are a lot of unknowns at the federal level that could change the economy very quickly.”

Lang said there will only be 18 new positions added to the city’s payroll of about 2,300 employees in fiscal 2026, and 17 are funded through the general fund. This means those and other positions are not subject to the whim of President Trump as far as cancelling or suddenly ending federal grants that cover the salaries of some local staff.

Twelve of those new positions are conversions into permanent ones funded by the city, even though those positions were initially funded by one-time grants or appropriations. City Manager Josh Wright made some of those same points in an interview with the Chandler Independent when asked about what council wants to accomplish regardless of federal or state legislative actions.

“Council is having staff continue to invest in some of the programs that were set up over the past several years, as we were coming out of COVID,” Wright said. “We’re also transitioning into dealing with some of the new challenges that are affecting cities across America, like behavioral health, homelessness and things addressed by one of our other social programs.”

Wright said council is on board with transitioning some programs that were at or just beyond a pilot stage, become permanent.

“We’ve been very judicious with that type of spending, and make sure those converts were prudent,” Wright said, noting staff is monitoring as many potential changes to state and federal funding streams as is practical.

Wright said Chandler’s annual budget survey of residents is taken November through early January. In 2024-25, that meant the public input portion of the survey was completed before President Trump took office Jan. 20 and began announcing ends or intent to end many federal programs, funding streams and even whole departments.

“Chandler residents are used to a very high quality of life,” Wright said. “People feel they get a good return on the investment as far as their (city) tax dollar goes, but they also want to maintain that high quality.”

Wright said it’s only careful, conservative fiscal planning that’s allowed the city to deal with state actions such as the legislature and Gov. Katie Hobbs’ decision to end residential rental tax statewide.

While there are benefits to individual renters in Chandler to that change, it’s an example of revenue cities had grown accustomed to planning for — at least $11 million annually, in Chandler’s case.

“Good planning also allows us to continue to invest in our infrastructure and our workforce,” Wright said.

Wright told Council, at the May 2 budget briefing, that his colleagues with other cities and towns know Chandler has been in a unique position the past several years, being flush with cash and making much easier decisions.

“Staff is grateful that council and our predecessors pushed to make the hard decisions to use one-time dollars to pay down debt and to take other forward-looking actions,” Wright said.

DEI spending

After President Trump signed dozens of executive orders in January, some of which mentioned or redressed diversity, equity and inclusion, Council member Jane Poston used her time at an early February meeting to point out some distinctions.

“I want to address some recent changes coming from the federal level,” Poston said. “I just want to reassure residents that council and staff are monitoring these and trying to determine what the effects are. I’ve asked staff to create a webpage that address some possible effects and possibly setting up community meetings with some of our partners, like the school district and nonprofits, to look at their impacts.”

Poston said mayor and council are committed to “making everyone feel safe and welcome.”

The proposed fiscal 2026 budget for Chandler’s three-employee DEI Division is about $772,000. That’s less than the adjusted $795,000 budget.

In a late-January social media post, council member O.D. Harris outlined how a few local initiatives are aimed at helping enforce Congressional mandates but aren’t tied to the federal agencies or procedures affected by President Trump’s recent orders.

He explained the presidential orders target employment and hiring, while Chandler’s DEI initiatives are more focused on cultural events and widening access to city services.

“The president’s executive order specifically targets federal agencies within the executive branch of the federal government and does not extend to local municipalities, such as Chandler,” Harris wrote.

“Consequently, Chandler’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are independently managed and neither affiliated with federal agencies nor funded by federal monies. It is the City Council that governs the policy direction and allocates funding for our vital DEI initiatives.”

The Chandler DEI Division and the Human Relations Commission have offered mini-grants for as much as $1,000 in the past for youth programs run by or for Chandler teachers, schools, nonprofit organizations and community groups. Applications for each fiscal year’s grants are typically accepted starting in early July.

We invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this topic. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.   Email Jason W. Brooks at jbrooks@iniusa.org.

Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.