By Brian Wright | Maricopa Monitor
Pinal County has its share of financial challenges, and many of those issues were discussed at a Board of Supervisors strategic planning meeting Wednesday.
The county’s general fund balance is projected to be about $40 million at the end of the current fiscal year June 30.
However, budget projections provided at Wednesday’s meeting by Assistant County Manager Leo Lew show the general fund balance plummeting to $2.77 million after fiscal year 2016-17. Those numbers are based on the board’s adopting a flat property tax levy.
Board Chairman Anthony Smith of Maricopa called the numbers “quite dismal” and said that if the budget were ideally balanced, the amount at the conclusion of the 2016-17 fiscal year would be significantly higher.
“Where we should be (is) somewhere around $27 million if we had a balanced projection, so that’s a really big gap,” he said. “It’s not a very good picture.”
With a gloomy financial reality, the board — as well as all the elected officials in the county — have challenges to overcome. And the board has an add tional challenge in trying to prevent an increase in property taxes while looking for ways to bridge the monetary gap.
Supervisor Steve Miller of Casa Grande said the solution to improve the county’s budget is to cut back.
“In a scenario like this, the only wayyou can really stretch your money or make it more effective … is to decrease spending,” he said. “That’s the secret to a forecast like this — you’re gonna have to spend your money wisely and probably decrease spending at some level.”
Much discussion centered on what to do with property taxes. The idea was presented to have either a flat tax rate or a flat tax levy.
