West Valley

Litchfield Park adopts $45M budget

Includes dollars for major city improvements

Posted Tuesday, July 13, 2021 10:37 am

The city of Litchfield Park adopted its Fiscal Year 2022 budget on July 7 without much fanfare or discussion.

The special Litchfield Park City Council meeting and combined Community Facilities District board meeting lasted approximately 10 minutes, with all proposed budgets unanimously approved, including the 2022 City Budget, the Street Light Improvements Budget, and The Village at Litchfield Park Community Facilities District budget. There were no changes from the tentative budget, which had previously been approved at a June meeting. Mayor Thomas L. Schoaf adjourned the meeting shortly after all had been adopted.

“Thecity of Litchfield Park continues to be very fiscally conservative and maintains our policy of no city property taxes,” said City Manager Matthew Williams. “The city of Litchfield Park is one of the most fiscally conservative cities in the state.”

The city budget totaled $45,233,877, with some expenses changed year-overyear. Operating costs increased by $1,736,651 from 2021 to 2022, while capital costs increased by $21,873,500, contingency costs went up by $1,880,000 and city center contingency costs stayed the course at $1 million — the same as the year prior.

A large part of the city’s budget went toward its robust five-year capital improvement plan. The biggest cost went towards the city center ($4 million), followed by $2.67 million for citywide road maintenance, $2 million for the Camelback Park View fence and $1.9 million for the La Loma Homestead Infrastructure Cost Sharing. Overall, a total of $17,530,000 went to the improvement plan from the 2022 budget.

Williams said there are 40 improvement plan projects in the works between now and 2026, which will also include fixes for parking and flood drainage in Litchfield Park, as well as events such as the downtown tree lighting. He also said the pandemic provided some additional federal funding for the city that will be distributed where it’s needed the most.

“Budgets were increased or decreased according to available funds and department needs,” he said. “The pandemic affected the city in multiple ways through CARES funds, [American Rescue Plan] funds, FEMA funds. Through these funding sources, the city was able to award $360,000 in CARES funds to local businesses and nonprofits. The city also saw a rise in sales taxes from certain businesses, while others declined during the pandemic.”

The city budget also featured some salaries for city council members

and other government officials, including raises for the city attorney, human resources department, public safety and more. A total of $4,097,972 was budgeted for city personnel.

In the same meeting, the council adopted the 2022 Street Light Improvement Districts budget. SLID 1 is in the Village at Litchfield Park, encompassing the southern Village area. SLID 2 includes the central area of the city featuring the Wigwam resort, central businesses and a large portion of residences. SLID 3 also is in the Village at Litchfield Park, encompassing the northern Village area. SLID 1 is gaining $34,885, while approximately $158,627 was allotted for SLID 2 and SLID 3 was budgeted for $ 40,130. The amounts are similar to what was set aside for the districts in the 2021 budget.

The ongoing SLID assessments cover exactly 100% of the districts’ operating expenditures, so the city’s general fund will not be affected.

The quick and efficient CFD board meeting took place directly after the city budget was adopted, where the council and staff also adopted the $363,650 budget for The Village at Litchfield Park Community Facilities District. The group approved an estimate of assessment of $1.3675 per $100 of assessed value for fiscal year 2022 in tax levies, which the board will vote to officially adopt at its July 21 meeting.

The current limited property net assessed value of the CFD is $28,109,591, which is 5% higher than the previous year.

“It’s important to understand that the city of Litchfi eld Park has no property tax,” said Williams. “However, property taxes (from other entities) will probably rise as home values have risen drastically in the last two years. This doesn’t mean that these entities raised property tax rates, however, the values of the properties rose. Property taxes are a set percentage of your home value. When property values rise, so do property tax bills.”

The Litchfield Park City Council will meet next on July 21.

Lindsay Walker
News Editor | Tempe
@AzNewsmedia

lwalker@iniusa.org

Lindsay is a Phoenix native and is thrilled to be reporting in her hometown.

After spending several years in advertising after college, she switched gears and graduated with her master’s degree in journalism at Arizona State University in 2019.

When she’s not writing, you can usually find her reading a book or playing with her family’s dogs.