Sahuarita council adopts balanced $109.8 million tentative FY2026 budget

The Town of Sahuarita council adopted the town’s tentative fiscal year 2026 budget, programming $109,787,630 in sources and uses and setting the legal spending ceiling for the coming fiscal year.

AC Mariotti, acting town manager and director of finance and technology, presented the tentative budget and noted the tentative adoption sets the ceiling that the final budget cannot exceed. “This will set the budget ceiling for the year ahead,” he said, and warned that late state budget actions could create timing challenges but that the town’s significant fund balances provide cushion.

Nut graf: The adopted tentative budget is balanced; about 37% of total resources are planned as ending fund balances carried forward, while capital outlay and operations make up most of the spending. The town’s general fund is the largest single fund and will carry forward sizable reserves to provide flexibility.

Mariotti said the tentative budget is about 8% smaller than the current year’s adopted budget, primarily because capital funding sources (including prior bond proceeds) are lower next year. He outlined key capital items programmed in FY2026: $7.28 million for Rancho Sarita roadway acquisitions, $5.85 million for police building expansion and renovations, multiuse path funding on El Toro and La Veta Roads ($1.62 million), and several parks projects including an Animax maintenance yard and parking expansion.

On operations, he reported a $42.1 million operations budget, with the police department ($14M+) and public works ($12M+) as the largest departmental budgets; the solid-waste enterprise was newly incorporated into town budgets for this cycle. The town is not proposing tax-rate increases; Quail Creek’s property tax component is separately administered by that CFD and will decline as its bonds are retired.

The council adopted the tentative budget unanimously and will hold a public hearing and final adoption on June 23, 2025.

Ending: The tentative adoption allows staff to post required notices and continue project planning while leaving open amendments before final adoption during the statutorily required hearing on June 23.