Sierra Vista previews FY 2026 budget: $47.3 million personnel estimate; council flags street maintenance shortfall

City staff reviewed preliminary Fiscal Year 2026 budget projections at a Sierra Vista City Council working session, outlining personnel, operations and maintenance (O&M) and capital requests across funds and flagging a shortfall for routine street maintenance.

The budget presenter noted the numbers were preliminary: “these are the numbers as of now, and they're definitely going to change as they move forward with the budgeting process,” the presenter said, adding the current $687,000 figure reflected an early-stage imbalance in the general fund.

Staff said the FY 2026 personnel total across all funds is currently estimated at $47,303,000; the general fund personnel estimate was listed at about $37,000,092. The draft includes a 2% step increase for full- and part-time employees effective July 2025. Staff described a set of promotional reclassifications and new supervisory conversions rather than multiple brand-new positions; examples given included an estimated $21,000 annual difference tied to reclassifying a deputy chief information officer role and a $9,706 annual increase expected for promoting a refuse worker to a technician to serve as a primary point of contact for residential drivers.

Reclassifications recommended by HR include changes such as recreation coordinator to recreation program supervisor (+$14,000 annually) and payroll coordinator to HR analyst (+$10,000). Staff also described folding paramedic advertisement pay into hourly wages; the presenter said the total paramedic ad pay would amount to $3.95 (noted as a total figure in the transcript), and that the increase from last year is about $56,100.

On capital, staff reviewed a long list of priority projects. General fund capital highlights included replacement of aging generators and uninterruptible power systems at fire stations and the library; an expansion and paving project for the police evidence parking lot (including fencing, cameras and drainage work); carryover fire apparatus procurement (one truck budgeted in a prior year, another requested for FY 2026 replacement of a 2005 pumper with expected multi-year delivery timelines); facility AV upgrades for the Mona Bishop Conference Room; repairs and a new pump to secure a community well and provide backup; and park projects such as a new playground at Nancy Higgs and a proposed conversion of basketball courts to pickleball at the OICC site.

Staff said preliminary estimates for renovating the Lynn Roberts splash pad are roughly $100,000 after a reassessment showed the pad base needs partial replacement. Roadrunner Park design and construction were listed among capital items; staff said they planned to pursue Land and Water Conservation Fund matching grants to expand the project scope toward a phase 1 that could exceed $3 million.

Transport and transit capital carryovers include ADA upgrades to bus shelters, sidewalk connectivity and a paratransit appointment-scheduling software to replace a manual Excel-based booking process (staff said paratransit averages 50–75 rides per day). Staff said all transit capital items are largely grant-funded with a 20% local match; if the current list were approved, the city match would total about $1,146,000.

Enterprise fund capital items included wastewater collection system flow studies to locate infiltration and inflow (I&I) issues; a compost turner replacement after frequent downtime; refuse roll-off containers and a side-loader truck replacement; and airport pavement rehabilitation proposals citing a 2022 ADOT pavement management report that estimated PCI scores in the mid-60s for apron areas.

Council members and staff debated the adequacy of a $1.5 million annual street maintenance allocation. Multiple speakers said the amount is insufficient to maintain the city’s secondary and auxiliary streets. Staff noted available carryover and grant funds — including HEERF carryovers for Fry North Garden (approx. $2.2 million), an awarded BST reconstruction allocation, and potential state appropriations — but emphasized those dollars are mostly directed to major projects rather than routine maintenance.

Staff said departments are continuing to refine numbers and will deliver a tentative budget book to council before Memorial Day weekend; no final budget action was recorded in the working session transcript.