Florence council approves $97M tentative budget

The Florence Town Council has approved a tentative town budget of more than $97.1 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

The budget increased by $9.6 million from the current fiscal year’s budget of $87.5 million. The council approved the tentative budget at its May 6 meeting as part of its consent agenda. All items on the consent agenda are voted on with one vote unless a member of the council or public asks that an item be removed for a separate discussion and/or vote.

The budget includes a $6.1 million increase for capital projects and $3 million more for debt service on infrastructure.

“The (fiscal year) 2024-25 budget reflects the town’s commitment to upgrading and expanding its infrastructure for today and tomorrow, with $54 million in capital projects,” stated Carl Dudding, deputy finance director for the town, in an email.

These capital projects include:

• $29 million for water and wastewater
• $13 million for streets
• $4 million for community services
• $3 million for public safety
• $5 million for equipment upgrades and other improvements.

Personnel costs make up almost $22 million of budget expenditures. Of the $22 million:

• 43% goes to public safety (police, fire, 911)
• 20% go to public works (streets, water, wastewater, engineering, facilities)
• 19% goes to administration (council, town managers office, clerk’s office, HR, finance, IT, legal, courts)
• 12% goes to community services (recreation programing, seniors, park maintenance)
• 5% percent goes to development services (planning and zoning)

The third largest category of expenditures is more than $21 million to pay for contractual services, commodities and debt service.

Revenue is expected to drop in the upcoming fiscal year by $3.7 million to $51.7 million. Almost the entire drop is expected to be fueled by a $3.3 million decrease in state-shared revenue, Dudding stated.

The council is expected to make a final vote on the budget later in May. The new fiscal year begins on July 1. After the budget is finalized, the council will vote on setting the primary property tax rate.

We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org.