Debates on how Scottsdale will respond to long-term water challenges again dominated city budget discussions.<\/p>\n
With the current budget ending June 30, the new one is likely to be approved at City Council\u2019s June 9 meeting, after another presentation May 19.<\/p>\n
At the May 5 City Council meeting, City Manager Greg Caton \u2013 as he was in previous Budget Review Commission meetings last month \u2013 was grilled about the city\u2019s budget commitment on water projects.<\/p>\n
Caron reiterated a previously reported letter to City Council, in which he led with the new budget \u201ctotals $2.119 billion, representing a decrease of $84.7 million, or 3.8%, from the prior year.\u201d<\/p>\n
This time last year, a slide presentation advertised Caton\u2019s first budget as \u2013 curiously enough \u2013 \u201c3.8% Decrease From Prior Year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2025-26 overall budget was $2.2 billion, down from the 2024-25 budget of $2.3 billion, which in turn showed a decrease from the $2.5 billion 2023-24 budget.<\/p>\n
But, while capital improvement projects were down significantly in Caton\u2019s first budget, the 2025-26 operating budget \u2013 every-day costs to run the city \u2013 showed an 8% increase.<\/p>\n
At the May 5 meeting, Caton said he directed department heads to do \u201ca scrubbing of the budget line items.\u201d<\/p>\n
His bullet points:<\/p>\n
Departments tasked with identifying up to 10% reduction in base budgets and 2% reduction in vacant positions;\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Budget reductions to offset strategic investments and cost inflation pressures;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Minimize use of reserves to ensure sufficient rainy day funds.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Caton stressed he wasn\u2019t cutting \u201cacross the board\u201d \u2013 indeed, he highlighted boosts in public safety:\u00a0<\/p>\n
$4.8M additional compensation for Police and Fire recruitment and retention;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
$8.6M increase in Fire Department Budget for Phase III Ambulance, staffing and workforce development;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
$2.0M in additional PSPRS contribution for Fire;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
$69M in public safety capital improvements (includes $48.3M in carryforwards).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Caton\u2019s proposed budget also includes $46 million for \u201cpavement overlay\u201d and $212 for \u201cother transportation projects,\u201d and $330 million for \u201cwater and water\u00a0 reclamation capital improvements.\u201d<\/p>\n
And \u2013 with City Council\u2019s permission \u2013 the city manager wants to toss $8.7 million to WestWorld, $32 million to Tourism and Events and $3.2 million for \u201cimprovements at Scottsdale Stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n
Questions? Comments?<\/p>\n
After a presentation on water, Councilwoman Solange Whitehead \u2013 who has expressed alarm that Advanced Purified Recycled Water (APRW) capital costs were not in the budget \u2013 asked for more details.<\/p>\n
After Caton started to give an extended answer, Whitehead interrupted.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy question is very specific: are the rate payers getting what they’re paying for, what they are expecting, which is that these dollars fund the strategic plan project is horrible, and those, one of the projects that is considered most urgent is the APRW, which we just call pure water,\u201d Whitehead said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes this (budget) fund APRW \u2013 or does it give staff some leeway to change the policy administratively?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe answer is yes,\u201d Caton responded.<\/p>\n
Whitehead and Caton then got into a back and forth on if funding was present for what is known as \u201crecycled water\u201d \u2013 referred to by some as \u201ctoilets to taps.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whitehead said she was not clear about Caton\u2019s answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be looking forward to a work study session,\u201d Whitehead said.<\/p>\n
Mayor Lisa Borowsky then chimed in: \u201cWe are not going to be funding a project we have no idea what it costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Responding to a Borowsky question on APRW funding, Caton responded, \u201csome of that uncertainty is settled, and then we’ll return to council on that discussion over the next six to nine months.<\/p>\n
“And then that will prepare us a year from now, then we will have the decision whether we move forward with acquisition of new water or that project,\u201d Caton said, referring to APRW, also known as Advanced Purified Water or APW.<\/p>\n
Councilman Barry Graham said it was not a simple yes or no on \u201cAre we doing toilet to tap or are we not doing toilet to tap this year?\u201d<\/p>\n
Graham referred to a \u201c$100 million placeholder\u201d as reasonable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gives us flexibility,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe toilet to tap concept \u2013 ADEQ is developing standards, those are changing \u2026 nobody else does that in Arizona, not a single municipality pumps that into their drinking supply.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the subsequent call for public comments, Linda Milhaven shot back at Graham.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo call recycled water \u2018toilet to tap\u2019 is irresponsible,\u201d the former councilwoman said.<\/p>\n
She said Caton\u2019s budget eliminated $68 million for the APRW program.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are losing time\u201d by not funding the project, she said.<\/p>\n
More numbers<\/p>\n
After the departure of Jim Thompson, Caton was appointed city manager (first on an interim basis) in early 2025.<\/p>\n
His first budget showed the total operating budget \u2013 including a $50 million transfer to the police\/fire state pension fund and $12.5 million transfer from the capital budget \u2013 increased last year by 16%.<\/p>\n
Not so, this time around.<\/p>\n
The proposed 2026-27 Scottsdale budget shows a 5.3% decrease in operating expenditures (dropping from $885 million to $838 million) and total operating budget decline of 5.4% (falling from $1.23 billion to $1.163 billion).<\/p>\n
But \u201ccontingencies and reserves\u201d also drops, by 5.7% (from\u00a0 $344 million to $325 million).<\/p>\n
\u201cThis budget reflects a thoughtful and disciplined approach to aligning our resources with community priorities while maintaining Scottsdale\u2019s long-standing commitment to fiscal responsibility and service excellence,\u201d Caton said, in his letter to City Council last month.<\/p>\n
\u201cScottsdale continues to maintain a strong financial position, supported by disciplined financial management and a commitment to long-term sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city projects slightly fewer employees \u2013 with current workers receiving raises: a 3% \u201cmerit increase,\u201d a 1% \u201cmarket adjustment\u201d and \u201ca one-time 1% payment for employees at the top of their pay range who are not eligible for merit increases.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to Caton, \u201cThese investments ensure we remain competitive in a challenging labor market while recognizing the contributions of our employees.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with the raises, \u201cpersonnel services\u201d drops in the proposed budget by 5.7%, from $430 million to $405 million.<\/p>\n
Caton highlights \u201cthe net elimination of 8.33 FTE (full-time)\u00a0 positions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The current budget\u2019s full-time worker count of 2,797 will drop to 2,789.<\/p>\n
Another major factor in the personnel cost line decrease is the huge cut of last year\u2019s $50 million transfer to the police\/fire state pension fund; this year\u2019s contribution to the public safety retirement fund will be $2 million, according to Caton\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n
The \u201ccontractual services\u201d budget line increases by 3%, from $223 million to $229 million, due to a $5.8 million increase in healthcare costs, a $1.6 million increase in the Tourism<\/p>\n
Development Fund and $4.3 million increase in Water Resources.<\/p>\n
Mayor\u2019s take<\/p>\n
At the May 5 meeting, Mayor Lisa Borowsky \u2013 who has frequently clashed with the city manager \u2013 praised Caton.<\/p>\n
\u201cI challenged the city manager to reduce spending by 10% across the board \u2026 I\u2019m glad you met the challenge,\u201d Borowsky said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still think there\u2019s room to sharpen the pencil and drill down a little bit more,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Overall, Borowsky said, \u201cI do think this is a great starting point. We\u2019re in a really good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Debates on how Scottsdale will respond to long-term water challenges again dominated city budget discussions. With the current…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":790843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-790842","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-phoenix","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116561109901775065","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}