While the city, state and nation are nowhere near the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic, its associated fiscal chaos appears to be in retreat.
At least conditions are more comfortable for planning a city budget than they were nearly a year ago. In mid-March 2020 the novel coronavirus brought the economy and city services to a halt — right in the middle of Surprise City Council meetings detailing a Fiscal Year 2021 budget now rendered at least partially obsolete.
“When we were setting our Fiscal Year 2021 budget, there was much more undecided,” Surprise Financial Director Andrea Davis said. “2021 was the COVID budget. This (fiscal year 2022 budget) is more like 2020.”
