FY 2016 COUNTY BUDGET GUIDELINES AND PRIORITIES.PDF

MARICOPA COUNTY
FY 2016 Budget Guidelines and Priorities
For Consideration by the Board of Supervisors on January 7, 2015
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 over the entire economic cycle that achieves, within available resources,
the County’s mission and strategic goals as set forth in the Maricopa County
Strategic Plan.
Property Taxes
The base budget will begin with the assumption that the FY 2016 primary
property tax rate will remain flat, unless critical mandated public services cannot
be funded.
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
Employee compensation will be determined at a later date after further evaluation
of economic conditions and funding challenges.
Budget Requests
1) Base budget requests will be prepared within baseline amounts equal to their
current budgets plus Board of Supervisor authorized adjustments. The Office
of Management and Budget is directed to adjust baseline budgets for the
following:
a) The annualized impact of FY 2015 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 and other
programs.
d) Other technical adjustments as required.
2) All departments must submit their base expenditure budget requests within
their baseline budgets. If justified by revenue projections, base revenue
budget requests may exceed revenue baselines. Revenue baselines 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 met,

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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) Requests for additional funding above the baseline must be approved by the
Board of Supervisors in order to be considered. Agenda items for Board of
Supervisors’ approval of consideration must be entered within two weeks
after the department’s budget submission due date.
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. For
departments submitting Zero-Based Budget requests, any increases above
the FY 2015 appropriation plus the adjustments listed in item (1) above must
be approved by the Board of Supervisors in order to be considered. Agenda
items for Board of Supervisors’ approval of consideration must be entered
within two weeks after the Board’s approval of the budget guidelines.
Contingency, Reserves and Fund Balances
The base budget will include a plan to incrementally restore operating
contingency.
In accordance with the Board of Supervisors’ strategic goals regarding structural
balance and reserves, fund balances will first be used to incrementally build
reserves. A multi-year plan to build reserves to an adequate level was
developed as part of the FY 2015 budget development process. The plan will be
advanced in FY 2016. A decision on reserve levels will be made prior to
allocation of one-time monies for other purposes.
In accordance with the Board of Supervisors’ strategic goal regarding structural
balance, requests to use 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.

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Expenditure Limitation
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 2016 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
Funding for Information Technology Major Maintenance will be continued
as per the schedule developed as part of the FY 2015 budget. If it is
determined that funding is available for Information Technology Projects,
the Board will prioritize the needs within the available funds.
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.