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Clarkdale council adopts $47.38 million tentative budget, cites weaker sales and state revenues
Summary
The Clarkdale Town Council on May 27 adopted a tentative FY2025–26 budget of $47,384,536, citing lower local sales tax receipts and reduced state shared revenue. Council held the property tax rate flat and scheduled a June public hearing for final adoption.
The Clarkdale Town Council unanimously adopted a tentative fiscal 2025–26 budget of $47,384,536 on Tuesday, setting the ceiling for the coming year and scheduling a public hearing on June 24 for final adoption.
Town Manager Guthrie presented the plan, saying the increase from the current-year budget (about $43.6 million) is driven largely by grant-funded capital projects. "The majority of that difference is in the grants fund," Guthrie said, and staff presented forecasts that reflect a roughly $300,000 drop in state shared revenue and softness in local sales-tax receipts. Guthrie recommended keeping the town's property-tax rate flat at 1.344, which he said yields a levy increase of roughly $61,000 but triggers truth-in-taxation notices and a special public hearing.
The presentation outlined key assumptions: a 10% increase for health and dental insurance (negotiated down from 12%), a 4% cost-of-living/market adjustment for employees, a $27.3 million capital-improvement plan with $22.2 million expected from grants and donations, and $5.1 million from fund balance. Guthrie emphasized water‑related grants and projects included in the CIP, such as design work for a new water campus and an arsenic-treatment redundancy project.
Mayor Prudhom Bauer and council members thanked staff for detailed work on priorities tied to the town's strategic plan. "We try to take care of that; that we have good parks...we want to make sure we've got clean water," Mayor Bauer said in explaining the council's emphasis on infrastructure.
Council member Babbitt Pierce moved for adoption of the tentative budget and the motion passed by voice vote with no dissent. The tentative budget establishes the town's upper spending limit; council may lower but not raise that figure prior to final adoption.
Next steps: the council will hold a public hearing on June 24 and is scheduled to adopt final budget documents and the property-tax levy ordinance in early July. The town reiterated that some of the budget increases rely on grant awards still pending.
Sources: Town Manager Guthrie's FY2025–26 presentation and the council's May 27 meeting discussion and vote.
