New finance director presents budget plan to council

The city’s new finance and administrative services director, Tom Duensing, recommended last week how the Maricopa City Council could plan for the next budget, which begins July 1.

Duensing, who started his job Dec. 19, said this was the first time the city had completed a mid-year budget review.

If the city continues on its current path, he said, its reserve funds could be depleted within five years.

He said the city should either cut $1 million annually for the next four years, or make a $2.5 million cut in the next budget.

Duensing said the deficit was manageable and that $1 million could be cut each year without affecting services. The projected 2012-13 budget is around $28 million, excluding capital improvement projects.

“We will be getting requests from all departments and we want to be $1 million better off than what we forecasted,” Duensing said Monday.

While either revenues or expenses could go up or down from projections in his analysis (click here for reports) Duensing said there are signs of stability, mainly with sales tax revenue.

During last week’s meeting, Duensing presented council members with four options to mitigate a potential deficit. The first was to do nothing, which would mean the deficit would compound over the years.

The second option was to address the issue early by dramatically reducing recurring expenditures.

The third was to address expenditures and revenues evenly each year.

The fourth option was to do little now and then make big cuts in the “out years,” or four or five years into the projections.