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Greenlee County ahead of revenue projections; administrator warns election bills could raise costs
Summary
County Administrator Derek Rippert told the Board of Supervisors the county is roughly $600,000 above shared sales- and local half-cent sales-tax projections seven months into the fiscal year, but cautioned that severance-tax volatility and proposed election-law changes could affect future budgets.
County Administrator Derek Rippert told the Greenlee County Board of Supervisors that shared sales-tax receipts and the local half-cent sales tax are ahead of the county's current projections, leaving the county roughly $600,000 above forecast seven months into the fiscal year.
Rippert said the county projected $5.1 million in shared sales-tax revenue and that the current figures show an overage of roughly $620,000. He also said the half-cent local sales tax was projected at about $1.44 million and is currently roughly $18,000 above that projection. "We're about $600,000 above projected revenue 7 months into our fiscal year," Rippert said.
The uptick has led staff to consider increasing next year's monthly revenue projection from $425,000 to perhaps $475,000 or higher if the trend continues, but Rippert repeatedly cautioned that parts of the county's sales-tax base are volatile. He said much of the shared-sales figure is driven by severance tax tied to mining activity and the price and cost structure of copper production. "A huge part of that number you see is from, what we call severance tax," he said, adding that county officials cannot inspect the mine's internal cost allocations because doing so would expose proprietary information.
Rippert said the county will watch monthly trends closely before adjusting fiscal year 2026 revenue estimates. He noted that while the county is ahead of projections now, executive orders, tariff changes and other economic disruptions are producing uncertainty. "We're hoping it's a trend," Rippert said, "but right now, it's hard to see how the current climate is going to play out over the next 4, 6, 12 months."
Rippert also briefed the board on state-level legislation that could affect county costs. He described two election-related measures moving through the Arizona Legislature: a Senate bill that would shorten the time window for counting certain mail ballots (cutting off “late early” ballots at the Friday before an election) and a House measure from Representative Culligan that would end vote centers and require precinct-based voting, with one precinct per roughly 1,000 registered voters. Rippert said the precinct proposal would likely increase the number of polling places, require more poll workers and might force the county to buy additional vote-counting machines. "It is a 20 year step backward," Rippert said of the precinct proposal.
Rippert told supervisors that most of the bills under consideration statewide will not affect Greenlee County directly, but that some legislative moves could shift costs to counties. He said each supervisor had filed letters with their representatives and suggested further outreach to state lawmakers, including Senator Gowen, if the precinct-based plan continues to advance.
County staff said they will continue to monitor monthly receipts, keep the board informed, and refrain from changing revenue estimates until additional months of data clarify whether recent gains are durable.
