Oro Valley Town Manager Greg Caton will unveil his town recommended budget for 2014-15 at tonight's Oro Valley council meeting. He will unveil a budget of $107.1 million. This is a 14.1% increase. The recommended general fund budget increase is 8%.The basis of the recommendation is a set of robust expectation of revenues. For example, general fund revenue projections are expected increase almost $4 million, a 13.8% increase. Anticipated sales tax revenue increases are 67% of this. This increased is from anticipated new construction and increase retail activity. An RTA budget reimbursement of $1.3 million is anticipated, further bolstering expected revenues.
Spending on employees will increase dramatically if this budget is implemented. Salary adjustments and step increases total $1.4 million. This increase becomes a permanent cost to the town, forming a baseline for future wage and salary increases.
The salary adjustments are based on a "compensation market study" conducted by a Dallas-based consulting firm that compared Oro Valley town wages to those of major Maricopa County towns. Most of these towns are several times larger than Oro Valley. These salary increases plus the rich benefits package will make Oro Valley a better place to work, compensation-wise, than at a private sector company. Does this make sense to you?
The recommended budget also anticipates an increase in bed tax funds of about 20% and a 20% increase in water utility revenues.
Despite these robust projections, the contingency fund is anticipated to remain at about $10 million. The current majority on council has reduced the contingency fund several times in the past 4 years, reducing it to its current level of about $9.6 million.
The budget does not seem to consider the nature of the "windfall" in construction fees. They are one-time in nature. As the town learned in 2010, bad times" follow "good times." It is more fiscally conservative to anticipate and save for those bad times than to spend what appear to be projected windfall revenues all at once.
The budget will be vetted at a council study session before it goes to council for formal approval.
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12 comments:
This practice of awarding premium compensation packages for employees seems to be mostly prevalent by management teams that do note have a "for profit" motive in their business processes and no "skin in the game". At some point downstream, be assured that another OV town administration will have to rectify this excessive and irresponsible ambivalence by current management. Unfortunately, at that point the taxpaying citizens will be the only remaining liable stakeholder. (can you say ... taxation with out representation?). You would think that our elected and appointed managers would have enough fiscal sense and experience to understand that it is not very far from the "white house to the out house" - just ask the citizens of bankrupt Detroit.
I sure would like to see something for the citizens in this budget. For example, how about green grass in our parks and ballfields during the winter/tourist season. It seems to me that the town manager and supporters on the council are out of touch with the economic realities faced by us. If you read the newspaper you hear of layoffs, pay increases at less than the rate of inflation and the demise of labor unions. The OV budget affords the opposite-- increases higher than the rate of inflation and 2 year contracts with the police force . I hope a few council members will stand up for the citizens that would like to see some fiscal sanity.
More money for the gold plated police union.
When the new construction boom ends the town will be in worse shape than it was during the last bust.
Boom time in OV??
How in the heck are the ton of new high end apartments being built going to be filled with residents??
Reality check time:
Own three rental condos in Tucson area, and all are high end desirable condos.
Condo at River and Campbell - One bedroom/ one bath rents for $900 monthly, and there is a waiting list to rent these condos.
Condo right behind La Encanta Shopping Center- Two bedroom/one bath rents for $1,050 monthly and demand is high.
Condo in Oro Valley across from Steam Pump - Two bedroom/one bath rents for $800 a month, and supply is very high,and demand very low.
Tumbleweeds will be all over the place at the high end/ high rent apartment complexes in OV. A small help in drawing new residents to OV would be the end of the utility tax.
I look at those apartments under construction and can't help but think, 'subsidized housing';
Look at who is building them.
How do we sign the list for the new guys running for Council and, hopefully, Mayor?
Be careful. One of the guys running for Council is a buddy of the incumbents.
Which one?
Grapevine says it's Straney.
And it's not just the apartment buildings that look this way. The 6-7 homes per acre developments look like subsidized housing as well. Our once beautiful town has been destroyed by greedy developers and town councils that roll over for them. They get permission to build 7 homes per acre including 2-story homes RIGHT NEXT TO custom 1-story homes on 3 acre lots. They don't care about anyone's property values, they don't care about wildlife, they don't care about anything but money. Why bother giving input to the General Plan? They don't follow it anyway.
OK. Thanks.
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