Mayors from five Arizona communities weigh in on coping with lower revenue and steeper budget cuts. Municipal officials from throughout Arizona gathered in Tucson this week for their annual conference, and praised Gov. Jan Brewer for her advocacy on their behalf.
While they expressed some optimism for economic improvement, they were cautious about continued state intrusion on local governments and the yet-to-kick-in effects of the state's business competitiveness package.
"Well, I'm an optimist, so I think we need some positive attitude out there," Globe Mayor Fernando Shipley told Arizona Week for Friday's broadcast. "I think a lot of what drives the economy is the fear of the economy."
Shipley and four other mayors sat for a group interview this week during the annual conference of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns.
Mayor W. J. "Jim" Lane of Scottsdale agreed with Shipley's note of optimism.
"Any time we have a positive, after three and a half plus years of a downturn, it's nice to see and feel a positive attitude, no doubt about that," he said.
Both were commenting on Brewer's speech at Thursday's conference luncheon, at which she announced that higher-than-anticipated tax revenues for July had driven the state to a positive cash balance for the first time in several years.
Mayor Byron Jackson of Eloy said he welcomed the news and hoped it meant less in the way of state government takeaways from municipalities, which he said are especially harmful to smaller towns such as his.
Lane mentioned as an example the Legislature's implementation of a fee on local public water utilities as a way to fund the state Water Department. Mayor Sara Presler of Flagstaff and Mayor Marie Lopez Rogers of Avondale agreed, saying it is tantamount to a tax that the local utilities must pass along to their customers.
Presler said it comes off as unfair because private water companies in the state are not being charged the fees.
All the mayors said they have used creativity and innovation to cut their budgets, with most avoiding public safety layoffs and one, Eloy, avoiding layoffs altogether. Jackson said the town did so by setting up a savings account with one-time revenue it got from sales taxes that came from construction of private prisons in Eloy.
Those prisons also serve as economic drivers in the Pinal County town, bringing the best-paying jobs in the area.
Other mayors said they are optimistic that the new Arizona Commerce Authority will drive job growth, but that it is too soon to tell if it will work.
Reporter Michael Chihak further discussed municipal issues with Arizona mayors in the September 2 episode of Arizona Week. Watch it now:
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