When the Town Council meets next week on Tuesday, May 7, it will be ready to vote on a tentative budget plan of $32,156,660 for the 2019/2020 Fiscal Year which begins on July 1. The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. in council chambers at Town Hall.

Once the council approves a preliminary budget plan it cannot increase that amount prior to final approval, which the town has scheduled consideration for with a public hearing on Tuesday, June 4. The council will also hold a public hearing, consider tax levies for the year and make a final decision on revenue proposals including a sales tax increase and possible Public Safety Fee at its regular session on Tuesday, June 18.

The council met in a special session on Tuesday, April 23, to go over the budget plan and consider adjustments prior to consideration of the tentative budget. The council asked for no changes to the plan except to ask staff to provide the numbers if they were to include a 3.5 percent pay raise for employees. Town Manager Grady Miller had included no pay increase in this year’s budget. This current fiscal year staff received an increase that was divided with half given at the start of the fiscal year in July 2018 and the remainder awarded at the start of the calendar year in January 2019.

Councilman Dennis Brown asked Miller to include a similar program in the budget so the council can consider it.

“I think we need to look at staff raises,” Brown said. “I would hate to see the people we have leave because they can get more money down the street.”

Brown asked for the total number to be presented at 3.5 percent.

That number could be added to the $32,156,660 for council consideration next week.

The budget proposal also includes an increase in staffing from 56 full-time-equivalents to 61 for the new fiscal year.

Staff budget requests include the addition of a senior building inspector, code enforcement officer, procurement officer, streets technician and a part-time accounting clerk.

Costs related to the building inspector would be offset by elimination of a third-party inspection contract. Some of the other new staff would have expenditure offsets to cover costs.

Total personnel costs in the budget, which includes the proposed new staff, would be $4,955,439, an increase of 11.1 percent. The Town of Fountain Hills has 2.66 employees per capita, the lowest in the Valley, which includes only those employed by the town and does not include the public safety contract employees.

By department

Law enforcement services provided by Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office are budgeted at $4,785,920, an increase of 13.6 percent over last year. Law enforcement staffing includes a commander (captain), deputy commander (lieutenant), six patrol sergeants, 20 patrol deputies, one detective sergeant, three detectives, one administrative sergeant, one school resource officer, one community liaison deputy and one civilian administrative employee.

Substantial increases to cover costs of the State Public Safety Pension Fund are passed on to the town in this contract.

The contract also includes an agreement with Maricopa County Animal Care and Control, and jail fees.

The contract with Rural/Metro Corp. for fire and emergency medical response in Fountain Hills is $4,021,299, a 2.6 percent increase over the current fiscal year. The current contract is through June 2022 and includes two additional two-year renewal options. That contract includes annual increases of 3 percent.

Fire Department staff includes one chief and one assistant chief/fire marshal. Staffing for three shifts at Station #1 is three captains and 12 firefighters/EMT or paramedics. Station #2 staffing for three shifts is three captains and six firefighters/EMT or paramedics.

Department staff includes two people per two ambulances that are not included in the Rural/Metro agreement.

*The Administration Department has a proposed budget of $2,013,640, which is down by 17.4 percent.

Administration includes town manager, legal services, town clerk, finance, administrative services, purchasing, information technology and the volunteer program.

*The Economic Development budget is $246,231, an 8.2 percent reduction from this past year.

Economic development goals are business attraction, business retention and expansion and entrepreneurial development.

*Development Services shows a 1.1 percent increase with a $1,077,274 budget. The department includes planning and zoning, building safety, code enforcement and mapping and graphics.

The town will conduct an estimated 3,000 building inspections and address 725 code enforcement cases over a year. The General Plan amendment will be addressed through development services in the coming year.

*Public Works has a budget of $1,084,322 with a 4.7 percent increase. The department includes streets, facilities, engineering capital projects, pavement management and offsite inspections.

The town owns eight buildings and about 400 acres of wash property with 70 acres maintained annually on a rotating basis, the town is responsible for the inspection and maintenance of six Arizona Department of Water Resources dams.

*The town Street Fund (HURF) has a proposed budget of $5,181,641 a slight .3 percent increase.

The street division includes 6.05 employees, maintains 354 lane miles of streets with 3.5 million square yards of asphalt and maintains 68 acres of medians.

*Community Services has a budget proposal of $2,550,769, a 1.2 percent increase. These operations include parks, trails, Community Center, recreation programs, senior programs and Home Delivered Meals.

The town has 119 acres of parks that include a dog park, five ball fields, six tennis courts, two basketball courts, two sand volleyball courts and six playgrounds. There are 822 acres of preserve and 7.7 miles of preserve trails.

Special events hosted by Community Services include the Turkey Trot, Movies in the Park, Ballet Under the Stars and St. Patrick’s Day.

*The capital projects plan for the year has a budget of $3,197,250.

The planned work includes enhancements to Golden Eagle Park drainage to mitigate future flooding, sidewalk infill projects and several other drainage and storm water related projects. Improvements at Four Peaks Park are included as well as a building at the street maintenance yard. Money is also included for preliminary planning and design work for other street improvements.

The council meets Tuesday, May 7, in council chambers at Town Hall and will convene early at 5:25 p.m. as boards of directors to address public hearings and proposed budgets for the Eagle Mountain Community Facilities District and the Cottonwoods Maintenance District.