A last minute plea from director David Iverson prompted the Town Council to reinstate a 20 percent cut in its budget allocation to the Extended Hands Food Bank.

“I’m here to plead the case for the needy in Fountain Hills,” Iverson said at the council’s June 4 budget public hearing.

Iverson said the food bank provides food for more than 400 children and elderly each month from a total of 750 individuals that the food bank helps.

“Our costs are escalating,” Iverson said. “I ask you to (re)consider at the last minute the 20 percent cut.

“It makes a big difference to me to lose $400 a month.”

Barbara Patterson-Whitehead was there to support Iverson and his plea.

“You just heard from a very good man,” Patterson-Whitehead said. “As they say ‘charity begins at home.’ We have an obligation to these people.

“I would hate to be one of those who go to bed wondering how I am going to feed my children or grandchildren.”

Councilman Henry Leger made the motion to return $2,000 to the budget for the food bank; however, Mayor Linda Kavanagh asked to amend the proposal again to return the entire 20 percent, or about $4,000 to the budget.

The food bank will be receiving about $24,000 from the town during the next fiscal year.

The council needed to offset the increase to maintain the approved tentative budget. The money to pay for the increase will come from the administration department budget, specifically the Town Council budget.

The council required little other discussion to give final approval to the $44.8 million town budget for fiscal year 2014-15.

The budget includes nearly $22.8 million in capital improvement projects, much of which is tied to streets and transportation.

The budget plan includes a $13.7 million General Fund budget, about half of which is for public safety services or town contracts with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and Rural/Metro.

Other budgets

The Town Council also acts as the board of directors for the Eagle Mountain Community Facilities District and the Cottonwoods Improvement District.

The Eagle Mountain CFD was established in 1996 to secure bonds for the infrastructure for the Eagle Mountain subdivision. The money to repay the bonding comes from a property tax assessed on property owners living in the district.

The tax levy for the coming fiscal year is $1.61 for every $100 of secondary assessed valuation on each property. That is down from $1.84 in 2013.

The Cottonwoods Improvement District was also established around the mid-1990s to help maintain common areas of the Cottonwoods subdivision off Grande and Saguaro boulevards.

The town levies a tax of $83.15 for each property in the subdivision. That is unchanged from previous years and provides $4,823, which is used for annual landscape maintenance and a reserve fund for exterior wall maintenance.