Marana has general fund expenditures of $30.236 million in the current fiscal year that ends June 30.
It expects $27.057 million in general fund revenue for the fiscal year that begins July 1, a drop of $3.18 million from existing spending.
"That's what we have to cut," Town Manager Gilbert Davidson said at the second of two budget open houses for residents at Heritage Highlands last week.
"We are going to balance the budget with no additional taxes," Mayor Ed Honea said. "We're going to make it. We're going to cut that $3-$4 million.
"Everyone that works in the town will feel the squeeze," Honea said. "There are probably a few people who will lose their employment. I don't like it. It's probably something we're going to have to do."
Members of the Marana Town Council have made clear "they didn't even want to hear about" any tax increases, Honea said.
But, if "the economy continues to get worse," and general fund revenues slide to $26 million or less in years ahead, "then you're actually looking at closing the senior center, or the pool, or parks," Honea said. "Then I think we would as a council go back and at least give our citizens a choice" about raising taxes. "We're not going to look at a tax this year. It could be an option in later years if it continues."
To balance the 2010-'11 budget, every function of government will be touched, Davidson said. No department, including police, is "untouchable." With regard to law enforcement, and other functions, "there are ways to be more efficient," he said.
In the year to come, "most of our fees will double," Honea said. A 50-cent entry to the town swimming pool might go to $1, or $1.50 for a child who lives outside the town limits. "The actual cost might be $10," Honea said. "We're still not going to recover the same amount of money."
"What can we do as individuals to help the Town of Marana?" one man asked.
"Volunteering is probably the big thing," Honea replied. "We have a lot of good people," among them the residents of "two great retirement centers," Sunflower and Heritage Highlands. "We hope to utilize their talent."
"We're open to anything that will maintain services and cut expenses," Honea said. "We're hoping people will bear with us, volunteer with us."
"This is a crisis we're facing at one point in time, not a crisis we have to face from here on out," Davidson said. "We always know things are going to get better."
General fund revenue two years ago was more than $40 million. In the nearly two years since Davidson became town manager, "I've done nothing but cut," he said.
Marana trimmed more than $7 million in general fund expenditures from fiscal 2008-'09 to fiscal 2009-'10. Thirty-four jobs were eliminated, or held vacant. Employees voluntarily gave back nearly $500,000. "We minimized impacts to program and service levels," Davidson said. "It's amazing to see people voluntarily give money out of their own pay check, so someone else could keep a job."
Vehicles, technology and equipment have to be replaced at some point. "When we had surplus revenue, replacing all of those things was easy," Davidson said. No longer. What had been a typical line item of $1.175 million is being reduced. "There's still a portion that needs to be replaced," Davidson said. But patrol cars may be driven longer, and engines may be rebuilt rather than replaced. Marana wants to work with Northwest Fire to explore the possibility of consolidated dispatching services, Honea said.
The first open house on the budget was held two weeks ago, with a large crowd, most of them concerned about the future of senior center operation amid an interpretation of remarks by Honea that the Marana Senior Center might be closed. He said Wednesday there are no plans to close the center, though services may be reduced and volunteers are welcome to maintain them.
"A lot of rumors get started when times are bad," Honea said. "We want to be pretty frank with everybody and explain what we're doing."
Davidson summarized what he's heard at the two open houses, and at meetings in the community concerning the budget circumstances.
People have said "'we don't want our taxes raised, and we don't want to cut our favorite program'," Davidson said. "That's my greatest takeaway. People really appreciate the programs that we have here in Marana."
There is also "recognition we are in a horrific financial state," Davidson continued.
Governments at the state and federal levels are "in pretty bad shape," Honea said. "Marana has done a pretty good job. We're in better shape than a lot of the communities around us, but we're in bad shape."
