Queen Creek council approves $730M for fiscal year 2022-23
Posted
“In the budget, the priorities are for parks facilities, they’re for streets, they’re for the police department and fire department, and ambulance services.”
The Queen Creek Town Council approved a $730.2 million budget for fiscal year 2022-23 at its May 18 meeting. That’s an increase of about 50% from the current year budget of $487.2 million. The vote was four to two, with council members Leah Martineau and Emilena Turley voting no. Mayor Gail Barney did not attend the meeting.
On Wednesday, June 1 the council will consider whether to keep the primary property tax levy rate at $1.83. The levy is set by assessing a $1.83 rate for every $100 of a home’s assessed value. The $1.83 levy rate is consistent with that of the last two years.
The new budget is derived by combining revenues and fund balances. Revenues are expected to rise to $368.4 million next budget year compared to $300.4 million this year. The fund balance is $361.8 million for the upcoming year, compared to $186.8 million from this fiscal year.
“It seems to be a very healthy budget, particularly since all the services that are going to be offered to the public. I think the town’s on a solid financial footing,” said Queen Creek Deputy Finance Director Dan Olsen. “We try to be prudent and conservative in our revenue and expense projections and how we spend the money that the taxpayers entrust to us, and the council is very conservative in that way as well.”
He added that the budget is a policy document and reflects where the town council directs the funds based on its priorities
“In the budget, the priorities are for parks facilities, they’re for streets, they’re for the police department and fire department, and ambulance services,” Olsen said. “That’s where the priorities are, so that’s where the money goes. We believe that the budget is very reflective of those priorities.”
Nearly 73% of the budget is for capital infrastructure investments, with $180.6 million for transportation improvements, an increase of $44.7 million.
“The budget acknowledges the critical nexus infrastructure plays in increasing opportunities for private sector investment within the community, particularly as it relates to the opening of the new State Route 24 freeway in middle-to-late 2022, the town’s first freeway frontage/access,” according to a staff report.
The largest increase in spending is for parks and trails infrastructure. For the upcoming fiscal year, the town has budgeted $172.1 million for parks and trails infrastructure, up from $25.9 million this current fiscal year.
At its April 9 meeting, the Queen Creek Town Council approved beginning the sale of bonds to fund Phase 1 of new park facilities as part of the Park Master Plan. Phase 1, anticipated to take several years to build, includes Frontier Family Park (formerly East Park), which will include a multigenerational recreation center and aquatics center. In addition, the remainder of Mansel Carter Oasis Park will be developed.
The new 85-acre Frontier Family Park will be delivered in two phases. The town has entered into a contract with J2 Engineering and Environmental Design for design services for Phase 1, which will include a majority of the park acreage and will deliver lighted sports fields, sand volleyball courts, concession and restroom buildings, and play areas in the fall of 2023.
Phase 2 is anticipated to be the combined aquatic and recreation center on the north end of Frontier Family Park along Ryan Road. It is expected to open in spring or summer 2024.
According to a staff report, the budget also includes funding to continue building the new Queen Creek Police Department and “continue our investments in new streets, water and wastewater infrastructure; continued funding for possible acquisition of water rights to meet our long-term water; and funding for construction of roads and utilities to accommodate potential development on the State Lands parcels.”
The budget also includes the creation of a council-approved ambulance service. The Queen Creek Town Council voted on April 5 to purchase ambulances, which are anticipated to be in service through the Fire and Medical Department by July 2023. Once fully operational, the ambulance service will generate $2.2 million annually and will cost $2.9 million to operate.
In terms of new employees, 64 new positions have been earmarked, they include 26 for ambulance transport, 15 for the police department and 23 other positions scattered across town departments.
The town’s operating budget is set at $93.4 million for the upcoming year, compared to $84.6 million this year. The operating budget excludes transfers out and reserves funding.
Operating budget revenue/sources are expected to generate $119.7 million for the upcoming year compared to $111.9 million this current year.
Driving revenues are population growth, the economy and new businesses. The town’s population is estimated to hit 79,000 next year. That increase will power new homebuilding, new businesses and sales taxes. The top sources of estimated revenues for the town next fiscal year include:
Sales Tax (Non-Construction) - $43.1 million up from $36.2 million
State-Shared Revenues - $25.4 million up from $21.8 million
Construction Sales Tax - $14.7M million down from $16.6 million Primary
Property Taxes - $12.5 million up from $11 million
Building Revenues - $10.5 million up from $10.4 million
“What we call building revenues are basically your building permits. If a new business wants to come in, they have to submit a site plan of what they want to build, so there’s a fee for us to review that plan. Any kind of zoning change requires an application and a fee. So, building revenues are one-time charges for any new development and any proposed new development,” Olsen said.
Next fiscal year’s operating expenses will rise to $114.4 million from $111.2 million. Operating expenses include the operating budget plus transfers out for debt payments, infrastructure funding and funding of reserves. The increase is due in part to, among other expenses, getting the ambulance service up and running, maintaining and growing the police department, and implementing Phase 1 of the Parks Master plan.
By category, personnel has the largest operating expense at $51.5 million, up from $40.1 million; followed by contractual/supplies/capital at $39.2 million; and debt service at $11.7 million.
The operating budget will continue to build reserves. For example, 25% of each new dollar in revenues is required to be set aside. The ending reserve from the next fiscal year is expected to increase by $2.9 million, raising the total reserve to $32.5 million. A road replacement reserve that went into effect this fiscal year will continue into the upcoming year and is expected to generate $1 million. Counting this year and next, the road replacement reserve will have $1.5 million.
“The funds that the town has built up over time by having either revenues that came in higher than expected or we spent less … those savings accumulate over time into our reserves,” Olsen said. “We have a couple of different categories of reserves. The first is the 25% that is automatically set aside. The road replacement reserve is something new that we just started this year, and we’ll continue into next fiscal year where we’re starting to set aside cash into a separate reserve that over time will build up to give us a source we can draw on when we need to start replacing some of the roads,” Olsen said. “Right now, most of our roads are new but we do have some roads that are getting old. We’re setting some cash aside so that in the future we have a resource to fix some of those roads and then we have our pension reserves.”
Janet Perez News Editor | Queen Creek &
San Tan Valley @AzNewsmedia
Meet Janet Janet Perez joined Independent Newsmedia as editor of the Queen Creek Independent and Florence Independent in 2020. She started her career in 1989 with the Gannett-owned El Paso Times. In 1992, she moved to Tempe and has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. She left Arizona for three years to work at New Mexico State University and Baylor University before returning to work at Arizona State University. Missing the business, she went back to journalism in 2017.
Community: A long-time pet owner, she supports animal welfare causes.
Education: University of Texas at El Paso with a BA in journalism and a minor in political science.
Random Fact: She had a head full of random facts.
Hobbies: Reading, watching documentaries, cooking and playing with her dogs.
By 
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here