Minutes 05/05/25 Budget Study Session

MINUTES 
 
WICKENBURG COMMON COUNCIL 
STUDY SESSION MEETING 
Monday, May 5, 2025 - 2:00 P.M. 
155 N. TEGNER - COUNCIL CHAMBERS 
WICKENBURG, ARIZONA 85390 
 
A. CALL TO ORDER – Mayor Bratcher called the meeting to order at 2:04 PM 
 
B. ROLL CALL 
Present: 
Mayor BG Bratcher  
Vice Mayor Brian Jones 
Councilmember Kristy Bedoian 
Councilmember Shawn Clark (Arrived at 2:30 PM) 
Councilmember Margaret Nyberg 
Councilmember Rebecca Rovey 
Councilmember Art Rubash 
Staff Present: 
Troy Smith, Interim Town Manager 
Trish Stuhan, Town Attorney 
Tim Suan, Deputy Town Manager/Economic Development 
Steve Boyle, Community Development Director 
Amy Brown, Town Clerk 
Les Brown, Police Chief 
Robert Martinez, Finance Director 
Tarah Mayerhofer, Human Resources Director 
Ed Temerowski, Fire Chief 
Herschel Workman, Public Works Director 
 
C. ITEMS OF BUSINESS 
 
1. Discussion and Direction to Staff Regarding the Proposed Draft Budget and 
Capital Improvement Plan for Fiscal Year 2025-26 
 
Troy Smith, Interim Town Manager, reported that this is the third budget 
workshop. The tentative budget is set for adoption on May 19th, which will set the 
expenditure limitation so the town then can’t go above that overall amount. The 
final budget is set for approval at the July 7th meeting.  
 
Robert Martinez, Finance Director, reported that the current property tax rate is 
.4123 and the levy is $600,000. The Council wanted to keep the levy similar so

Town Council Minutes of February 5, 2025 
Page 2 of 7 
 
there will be no Truth in Taxation hearing required. The property tax rate will be 
.3997 with the levy increasing to $615,000.  
 
The General Fund restricted projected end of year fund balance is $22,103,499 
with the details below: 
o -Contingency $3,193,980 
o -Capital Reserve $1,000,000 
o -Reserve $5,476,519 (30%) – policy is 15% 
 
The unrestricted fund balance for the General Fund is $12.433M.  
 
Interim Town Manager Smith stated that the town keeps funds in a Local 
Government Investment Pool (LGIP) interest account that the town will draw from 
for paying bills. The town might look at a new account that would be a longer-
term commitment to possibly invest the reserve fund. This will come back to the 
Council in the future to make this decision.  
 
The Council requested a five-year Capital Improvement Project (CIP) list, which 
is next for discussion.  
 
Herschel Workman, Public Works Director, reported that the Parks Master Plan 
has a list of maintenance recommendations spread over five-years. The town 
has completed many of these maintenance items already and plans to complete 
the entire five-year list next fiscal year. Staff sent a summary to the Council. The 
current plan for FY26 includes the following maintenance items: 
• 
Refurbish/Paint Sunset Park Concession Stand – $36,500 
• 
Seal and Stripe Sunset Park Parking Lots – $75,000 
• 
Resurface Coffinger Park Tennis Courts – $38,000 
• 
Add wood chips to playground areas – $10,000 
• 
ADA Safety Upgrades at Town Parks – $48,000 
 
The CIP projects for FY26 are the follows: 
• 
Engineering/Design of Sunrise Park – $1,122,000 
• 
Sunset Park Pickleball Restrooms – $250,000 
• 
Coffinger Park Field Renovation for Baseball and Football – $125,000 
• 
Coffinger Park Pool improvements – $222,000 
 
One of the ideas for Sunset Park was to add an additional baseball field, 
however, the proposed location is where the current dog park is situated. That 
additional ballfield is not planned until FY28. An option for the new location of the 
dog park is at Coffinger Park. Coffinger Park is centrally located and has 
available space to accommodate the move. Director Workman met with 
members of the dog park organization in August about the future plans of the 
town. He met in February with Bill Munds to review the options and reasons 
again.

Town Council Minutes of February 5, 2025 
Page 3 of 7 
 
 
 
 
The priority of the Council at the retreat was to work on Sunrise Park first, which 
would be the new park across the street from Sunset Park. Therefore, the CIP 
lists the design of that park, at an estimated cost of $1 million. There is no 
construction in this next fiscal year. This design will include restrooms, parking 
lots and lights. Having the design will help us to apply for grants.  
 
Sunset Park 
Coffinger Park

Town Council Minutes of February 5, 2025 
Page 4 of 7 
 
Interim Town Manager Smith stated that the design for the ballpark at Sunset 
Park is in FY27 with construction in FY28, so the dog park is not expected to 
move right away. The rule of thumb for the cost of design versus construction is 
that the design is usually around 10% of the cost of the project.  
 
Councilmember Jones thought that the town should do something next year to 
help the youth have a new field to allow for more practice areas. Director 
Workman stated that the design of the extra field (#7) and the parking lot (#3) 
next to it will cost approximately $460,000. It is estimated to cost about $1.94 
million for the new field and parking lot. It will cost about $586,000 for the dog 
park at Sunset Park (#1). There is also a possible dog park at Coffinger Park that 
is smaller next to the tennis court and skate park. The flood area that is next to 
the bypass is a larger area but will require working with the Arizona Department 
of Transportation (ADOT).  
 
Mayor Bratcher asked if the costs are the cost in the Master Plan or are they 
adjusted for possible inflation included. Director Workman stated that they are 
the ones in the plan, so they do not factor in inflation.  
 
Director Workman then reviewed the projects for water and wastewater and the 
funding for these projects. The water projects include: 
• 
Monitoring Wells - WIFA 
• 
Adams/Santa Cruz Waterline Replacement – WIFA (CDBG $340K) 
• 
Vulture Mine Booster Station 
 
The wastewater projects include: 
• 
Aztec Lift Station Odor Control 
• 
South WWTP Headworks Upgrade - ARPA 
• 
South WWTP UV Disinfection/Effluent Pump Station - WIFA 
• 
South WWTP Grit Removal Improvements – WIFA 
• 
South WWTP Intensification Expansion Construction & Engineering - WIFA 
 
The Council has requested some work on Constellation Road which is estimated 
to cost about $1.2 million for a mill, regrade, pave with 3” of asphalt and stripe.  
 
The next project is to make improvements to the Smoke Eaters building with the 
following list of improvements: 
• 
Improve the interior and exterior of the building and add publicly accessible 
restrooms added to the rear of the building 
• 
Includes utilizing the facility for youth after-school programming featuring a life 
skills curriculum 
• 
FY26 Design & Exterior Renovations - $300,000 - to include roof 
replacement, painting, sidewalks, etc. 
• 
FY27 Interior Renovations - $150,000 - to include ADA compliant restrooms, 
space for programming. 
• 
Total Project Construction Cost $450,000 (over two years)

Town Council Minutes of February 5, 2025 
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• 
There is a potential Opioid Settlement Funding: ~$53,500 for building 
improvements and furnishings.  
 
Director Workman then moved on to a discussion of the Community Center with 
the following options: 
 
 
Interim Town Manager Smith would like to look at an option in the middle. The 
basic remodel will fix issues, but there will not be anything that is visible to the 
public after spending $4 million. Options could be to take out the glass wall and 
expand the seating of the auditorium to maybe enclose the patio area. Another 
option is to take out one kitchen and look to expand the footprint of the building 
for another room in that area. Director Workman stated that the plan is for design 
in July, but the construction will not start until the following April. The design can 
include some alternatives that the Council can review. This is currently 
programmed with $300K of design and $2M for construction in FY26 and $2M in 
FY27. 
 
Director Workman then asked about the recycling program to get a decision for 
the budget. On April 7, 2025, the Council gave direction to explore options 
related to solid waste programs. Staff is preparing a future work session for 
Council with a variety of alternatives. Right now staff needs to know whether to 
maintain the current funding at $25K as a cap or increase the amount to cover 
the entire cost at $66K.  
 
Consensus of Council was to maintain the current funding of $25K, which will last 
about five months.  
 
Director Workman stated that there is a project for the taxilane and the town will 
be applying for a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant to cover 90% of the 
costs. There are some electric upgrades. The town will ask for proposals from 
developers to put hangars at the airport. The covered tie downs project was 
pulled as a project and will not be completed.

Town Council Minutes of February 5, 2025 
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Interim Town Manager Smith then summarized the priority projects in the FY26 
budget and stated that now is the time to make a change to the budget and CIP 
list: 
• 
Community Center Design and Construction - $2,300,000 
• 
Constellation Road - $1,200,000 
• 
Complete Park Maintenance Projects – Parks Master Plan 
• 
Sunrise Design - $1,122,000 
• 
Sunset Improvements - $250,000 
• 
Smoke Eaters - $300,000 
 
Finance Director Martinez suggested not spending the entire unrestricted fund 
balance because that amount took a long time to accumulate. The town can look 
at increasing revenues or cutting expenses.  
 
Interim Town Manager Smith stated that the town will possibly need to look at 
debt services to fund the construction of Sunrise Park. However, we need the 
cost of the project first, which is why the design is listed in next year’s budget. 
Then the town can also look for grants, donations, and loans to cover the 
construction costs.  
 
Councilmember Jones would like to add the design of #7 field and #3 parking 
area at Sunset Park to have something sooner. Director Workman stated that 
this design could possibly be added to the design of Sunrise Park at a lower cost 
since they will already be working on it and then the Council would have the 
information.  
 
Consensus of Council was to add the design of #7 and #3 to the RFP as an 
alternate to the design of Sunrise and make the determination when the costs 
come in as to whether to have them design it all.  
 
Finance Director Martinez stated that the town has 38 special funds, with 9 
enterprise funds and 29 special revenue funds such as the Rodeo Grounds and 
Cemetery. The budgets for these funds will be sent to the Council ahead of the 
tentative budget.

Town Council Minutes of February 5, 2025 
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Interim Town Manager Smith stated that the tentative budget is set for May 19th 
with the final budget on July 7. 
 
D. EXECUTIVE SESSION - (Council May Vote to Go Into Executive Session Pursuant 
to A.R.S §38-431.03(A)(3) to Receive Legal Advice from the Town Attorney on Any 
of the Above Agenda Items.) 
 
E. ADJOURNMENT  
 
MOVED BY Councilmember Rebecca Rovey to adjourn at approximately 3:14 PM 
SECONDED BY Councilmember Margaret Nyberg  
VOTE: 7 – 0 (Yes – Mayor Bratcher, Vice Mayor Jones, Councilmembers Bedoian, 
Clark, Nyberg, Rovey, and Rubash) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
         BG Bratcher, Mayor 
ATTEST: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Amy Brown, Town Clerk 
 
CERTIFICATION 
 
I, Amy Brown, the duly appointed and qualified Town Clerk of the Town of Wickenburg, 
do hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes 
of the special meeting of the Town Council of Wickenburg, Arizona held on May 5, 
2025. I further certify the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was 
present.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Amy Brown, MMC 
Town Clerk