FY 2017 COUNTY BFR GUIDELINES AND PRIORITIES.PDF

MARICOPA COUNTY
FY 2017 Budget Guidelines and Priorities
For consideration by the Board of Supervisors on January 6, 2016
The purpose of these guidelines and priorities is to provide direction from the
Board of Supervisors to the County Manager, Office of Management and Budget
and all departments so that they can develop a sustainable, structurally-balanced
budget that achieves, within available resources, the County’s mission and
strategic goals as set forth in the Maricopa County Strategic Plan.
Property Taxes:
The FY 2017 primary property tax rate will remain unchanged, resulting in an
estimated tax levy of $23 million more than FY 2016.
Other Major Revenue Source Assumptions
The base budget will assume the Most Likely forecast values from the County’s
economic consultant for State-Shared Sales tax, State-Shared Vehicle License
tax, and Jail Excise Tax revenues.
Employee Compensation:
Human Resources is directed to develop a targeted employee compensation
strategy which includes pay for performance, highlights a service delivery
approach and is contingent on an evaluation of economic conditions and funding
challenges including additional burdens or cost shifts from the State of Arizona.
Budget Requests:
1) Base budget requests for all departments and funds will be prepared within
baseline amounts equal to their current budgets plus authorized adjustments.
The Office of Management and Budget is directed to adjust budget baselines
for the following:
a) The annualized impact of FY 2016 budget issues or mid-year adjustments.
b) The annualized impact of other items (including intergovernmental
agreements) that were approved by the Board of Supervisors, so long as
the impact was disclosed at the time of Board approval.
c) Items required by State law, such as judges’ and elected officials’ salary
increases and mandated contributions to AHCCCS, ALTCS, Juvenile
Corrections, the Department of Revenue and other programs.
d) Other technical adjustments as required.
2) All departments must submit their base expenditure budget requests within
their baseline budget. If justified by revenue projections, base revenue
budget requests may exceed revenue baselines. Revenue thresholds for
non-General Fund budgets will include an adjustment as necessary to
maintain structural balance (recurring revenues equal to or greater than
recurring expenditures) within the fund. If the revenue baseline cannot be

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met, departments must reduce base expenditures and base revenue by an
amount sufficient to restore structural balance.
3) All budget submissions will be analyzed by the Office of Management and
Budget for budget reductions.
4) While no budget reductions are requested at this time, departments should be
prepared to submit up to 5% in operating reductions if needed to achieve
structural balance.
5) Departments participating in the Zero-Based Budget process will complete
decision packages utilizing the forms provided by the Office of Management
and Budget. Items (1) and (2) above do not apply to ZBB requests.
User Fees:
Per the Budgeting for Results Policy Guidelines, user fees are to be reviewed
annually in conjunction with the budget development process. Existing user fees
will be re-evaluated and necessary changes will be presented to the Board of
Supervisors. New user fees should be brought forward to the Board of
Supervisors for consideration.
Requests for Additional Funding:
No funding will be available for new or expanded programs.
Contingency, Reserves and Fund Balances
The base budget will include a plan to continue to incrementally restore operating
contingency in the General Fund.
In accordance with the Board of Supervisors’ strategic goals regarding structural
balance and reserves, fund balances will first be used to maintain General Fund
reserves equal to two-months of prior year operating expenditures. In addition, a
multi-year plan to build reserves in the Detention Fund will be developed and
implemented. A decision on reserve levels will be made prior to allocation of
General or Detention fund balances for any other purpose.
No requests for new non-recurring, one-time General or Detention funds will be
entertained.
In accordance with the Board of Supervisors’ strategic goal regarding structural
balance, requests to use any fund balances should be limited to either building
reserves or one-time, non-recurring expenditures and should not be used to
offset an operating deficit. Any use of fund balances and other non-recurring
sources to support an operating budget deficit must be specifically approved by
the Board of Supervisors.
Expenditure Limitation

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Increases to expenditures will be evaluated for their impact to the County’s
Expenditure Limitation as outlined in the Arizona Constitution Article 9 Section 20
and Arizona Revised Statute 41-563. To mitigate the impact of expenditure
increases on the expenditure limitation, financing will be considered where there
is an established, conservative repayment plan.
Capital Improvement Program
No funding will be available for new capital improvement projects until after
reserve decisions have been made by the Board of Supervisors.
1. Transportation
The Office of Management and Budget is directed to work with the
Transportation Department to develop an updated Transportation Capital
Improvement Program budget for FY 2017 that, within available non-
recurring resources, meets the strategic goal of developing, identifying
funding, and beginning to implement a long-range plan for addressing
HURF funded projects and transportation infrastructure needs.
2. Information Technology
If it is determined that funding is available for Information Technology
Projects, the Board will prioritize the needs within the available funds for
projects demonstrating a reasonable return on investment (ROI).
3. Facilities Capital Improvement
If it is determined that funding is available for Capital Improvement
Projects, the Board will prioritize the needs within the available funds.