County OKs new budget with tax increase

A split vote Wednesday approved the tentative Pinal County budget of $421.5 million.

Supervisors Anthony Smith and Steve Miller went against the majority, stating their opposition to the tax rate increase.

The final adoption of the budget is set for June 24.

As part of the budget, the supervisors approved a 20-cent increase in the county’s primary tax rate from $3.7999 per $100 of net assessed value to $3.999. It is the second highest rate in the state behind Pima County.

“I’m still convinced that we can manage our budget in Pinal County without a tax increase, but I’m also worried about the impact on businesses that are exempt from the 1-percent cap,” Smith said.

According to County Manager Greg Stanley, the 20-cent increase will bring in $4 million. A state shift in funding left Pinal County responsible for $4.6 million more than last year.

Miller echoed Smith’s opinion: “I think we could have done it without raising taxes.”

Supervisor Pete Rios pointed to an article in the Capitol Times accusing government entities of “sitting on” millions of dollars that could have gone to counties, cities and schools. “We’re having to do this (raise taxes) because they were hiding money,” he said. “And 90 members of the Legislature did not have the backbone to do what they had to do.”

The overall budget of Pinal County will increase $43 million. Stanley said that is because of $59 million in newly- financed capital projects like the public safety radio system, court expansion and improvements on Hunt Highway and Ironwood/Gantzel Road.

The General Fund will decrease $4.7 million, Stanley said. With “transfers out,” it will be $8.5 million less. The sheriff’s budget has been reduced from $55 million to $44 million.

“We had to deal with some pretty difficult decisions,” Stanley said. “A lot of it was still being done last week.”

“No one here wants to raise taxes,” Chairwoman Cheryl Chase said. “Our staff is exceptional, and even though things are not maybe the way we want them to be, I don’t know what more we could ask of them.”

Stanley said their reserve balance will be around 10 percent of projected expenditures. “We don’t budget so tight that departments are going to run out of money, so there is some flexibility there,” he said.