The Town Council moved a step closer to finalizing its budget for the 2019/2020 fiscal year with its unanimous approval of the tentative budget proposal on May 7.

The vote caps the budget plan at $32,562,699, slightly higher than what was on the table a couple of weeks ago. At the council’s urging, staff added a wage increase for town employees that had not been previously included in the budget. Town workers will receive a total 3.5 percent wage hike over the next fiscal year. That will come as a 2 percent increase with the start of the new fiscal year in July and the additional 1.5 percent will be added with the beginning of the new calendar year in January 2020.

The reasoning for the raise was discussed earlier with council members expressing appreciation for hard work in carrying the load with minimal staffing and wishing to retain current personnel and make it easier to attract new people.

Town Manager Grady Miller said he has been pleased with the quality people who have applied to fill vacancies in staff and wants to be able to continue to attract quality candidates and retain current staff.

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.

Town resident Bob Shelstrom, after initially congratulating the council on its transparency in making budget information available to the public, challenged some of the budget decisions.

Shelstrom wondered whether there was still room to eliminate some community programs without much impact on citizens. He also suggested the town could do better in negotiating contracts with service providers. He also wondered about the necessity of wage increases for employees, asking how many people are really leaving for better jobs elsewhere.

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.

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.

*The Administration Department has a proposed budget of $2,050,966, which is down about 17 percent.

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

*Development Services shows an increase with a $1,100,290 budget.

*Public Works has a budget of $1,100,934 with an increase. The department includes streets, facilities, engineering capital projects, pavement management and offsite inspections.

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

*Community Services has a budget proposal of $2,595,839.

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

The planned capital 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 budget will be back before the council with a special meeting in conjunction with the regular session on Tuesday, June 4, at 5:30 p.m. There will be a public hearing along with a final vote on the budget.

On Tuesday, June 18, the council will take a vote on a proposed sales tax increase and implementation of a public safety fee.

The new fiscal year will begin on July 1, 2019.