Queen Creek council gives final approval to $867M budget

Queen Creek’s proposed $867.1 million budget for fiscal year 2023-24 was given final approval Wednesday night by the town council. The budget grew by $137 million over last year’s budget of $730.1 million. The new fiscal year begins July 1.

The council voted 5-2 at its May 17 meeting, with councilors Leah Martineau and Travis Padilla dissenting. Throughout the budget process, both said they were opposed to the $170.9 million for parks and trails infrastructure. Parks and trails were budgeted at $175.3 million in the 2022-23 budget.

“I will be voting ‘no’ on this budget as I did on the budget limit because there are things in here that do not support fiscal responsibility, that are outside of the purview of what I believe that the town should be involved in,” Padilla said.

The budget sets a spending ceiling and items in the budget will be presented individually to council throughout the year for approval. Queen Creek Mayor Julia Wheatley stressed this point as she encouraged the dissenting council members to approve the budget.

“I want to challenge my fellow council members to look at the budget tonight differently,” Wheatley said. “A ‘no’ vote for the items you don’t agree with is also a ‘no’ vote for the items I believe we all do agree with — public safety, fire, police, ambulance services, transportation, acquiring new water resources, etc. I believe we need to show our shared support to our constituency. There will be time to show our opposition to other items that we don’t agree with.”

The budget is derived by combining revenue and fund balances. Revenue for 2023-24 is projected at $646.7 million, an increase of $213.3 million. The fund balance is $220.4 million, a decrease of $132.9 million.

Projects budgeted for parks and trails infrastructure include:

• New land acquisition
• Frontier Family Park
• Mansel Carter Oasis Park expansion
• Recreation center at Frontier Family Parks
• Aquatics center at Frontier Family Park

On May 16, the town broke ground on the aquatics and recreation center. It is scheduled to open next year.

At the May 3 council meeting in which the budget was tentatively approved, Vice Mayor Jeff Brown said it was time to expand the town’s park offerings.

“I’ve heard for years from residents that they value these parks that we have, they want more parks and more specifically they want the aquatic facility with the swimming pool and they want a multi-generational recreation-type facility,” Brown said before the vote. “They’ve been asking for years and rightfully so considering that’s one of the carrots we dangled in front of them. Many people do a lot of research before they move here, and they see the trajectory of the town and they hear the promises of what’s to come and so they plunk down their hard-earned money with that in mind.”

Including parks and trails infrastructure, nearly 70%, or $606.3 million, of the budget is for the following capital infrastructure projects:

• $87.8 million for transportation improvements;
• $168.1 million for water resources;
• $53 million for public safety infrastructure;
• $74.5 million for water and wastewater infrastructure;
• $2 million for municipal facilities.

The operating budget expenses by program for the upcoming fiscal year total $139.4 million. Police and transportation costs are at $30 million and $29.5 million, respectively. Fire and emergency medical services costs make up $23.6 million. Parks and recreation costs are at $17.7 million. The remaining $38.6 million will go to all other town services.

According to the town, the main drivers for increased expenses include:

• Population growth;
• Additional staff to maintain service levels;
• Continued growth of the police department and Police Master Plan Funding;
• Parks Master Plan Funding and associated staffing increases.

Under the new budget, operating expenses for the Queen Creek Police Department will increase by $6.8 million, while parks and recreation operating expenses will rise by $4.1 million. Both budgets include money for more employees.

The largest operating expenses per category are for personnel at $60.4 million and contractual/supplies/capital at $49.7 million.

Operating revenue for 2023-24 is projected at $150 million. More than $50 million in projected revenue comes from non-construction sales tax and $37.9 million is from state-shared revenue.

“Over the years, we as a council have proven ourselves to be responsible stewards of our residents’ tax dollars,” Wheatley said at the most recent meeting. “We are improving our residents’ quality of life, providing services and amenities to our residents without asking for higher taxes even in a high inflationary market.”

On June 7, the council will formally adopt a property tax levy it approved last year. In November, the council voted to freeze the primary property tax rate at $1.83 per $100 of assessed valuation for five years. For example, for an existing home with an assessed value of $241,000 in 2023, the property tax paid will be $441 at a rate of $1.83. In 2028, that same home is anticipated to have an assessed property value of $308,000. However, the property tax paid will remain at $441, meaning the property tax rate would be $1.40 per $100 assessed value.

We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.