Minutes 11/17/25 Study Session
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MINUTES
WICKENBURG COMMON COUNCIL
STUDY SESSION
Monday, November 17, 2025 - 3:00 P.M.
155 N. TEGNER - COUNCIL CHAMBERS
WICKENBURG, ARIZONA 85390
A. CALL TO ORDER – Mayor Bratcher called the meeting to order at 3:04 PM
B. ROLL CALL
Present:
Mayor BG Bratcher
Councilmember Kristy Bedoian (Arrived at 3:13 PM)
Councilmember Shawn Clark
Councilmember Margaret Nyberg
Councilmember Rebecca Rovey
Councilmember Art Rubash
Absent:
Vice Mayor Brian Jones
Staff Present:
Troy Smith, Town Manager
Trish Stuhan, Town Attorney
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
C. ITEMS OF BUSINESS
1. Discussion on the Zoning Code Update
Steve Boyle, Community Development Director, reported that the town has
contracted with Upfront Planning and Entitlements to finish the process for the
approval of the Zoning Code. The first part was completed by Matrix. The
remainder of the process will include public and stakeholder meetings. Then the
code will come to the Planning and Zoning Commission and Town Council for
approval. He introduced Jessica Sarkissian from Upfront Planning and
Entitlements, who was on zoom, as the main contact for this project.
Mayor Bratcher was concerned about the April/May completion and would like
that moved up, if possible, Director Boyle stated that he will work with the
contractor to see if that is possible.
Town Council Minutes of November 17, 2025
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2. Discussion and Direction to Staff Regarding the Short-term Rental Code
Adoption
Steve Boyle, Community Development Director, reported that the Short-term
Rental (STR) code was brought to the Council in September with a model
ordinance in the packet. In 2022, Senate Bill 1168 was approved in the State of
Arizona which required all short-term rentals to acquire a permit to operate.
Various communities across the state created new procedures and regulations
pertaining to residential short-term rentals (STR) due to the passing of this
law. Title 9-500.39 specifically mentions that cities and towns cannot prohibit
vacation rentals or short-term rentals, but there are certain regulations that can
take place.
The reason for the ordinance and regulations is to preserve the neighborhood
character and housing stock. It will also ensure responsible operation of Short-
term rentals in town. The goal is to balance the tourism benefits with community
livability. The regulations include the following:
• STR permitting
• Compliance with zoning, safety & nuisance standards
• Owner/emergency contact disclosure
• Neighbor notification of STR use
• Prohibition of illegal/harmful uses
• Suspension of permits & civil penalties for misuse
• Annual STR registration fee $250 (separate resolution)
• Fines: starting at $500 for non-compliance
• Licensing: valid TPT + local business licenses required
• Insurance coverage required on property
• Regulations regarding individuals with criminal history
• Owners maintain renter background records (1 year)
It is estimated that the town currently has 80 STR’s, which means the potential
revenue is $17,000 annually. The town will need to purchase software to track
the web-based registration. This software does have a cost to it, but it is
expected to have a net positive revenue plus reduced staff workload. The
software will take care of the following:
• Property identification
• Emergency contact tracking
• Online registration & notifications
• Fee collection & compliance notices
• Compliant management
• Liability insurance verification
There will be three departments that will play roles in this process:
• Community Development- zoning and permit review, code compliance
Town Council Minutes of November 17, 2025
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• Finance – fee collection, licensing
• Police- enforcement, incident response
The next steps are:
• Propose actual adoption on future Town Council agenda
• Allow 30-day cure period
• Cross-department collaboration for rollout
• STR regulations = balance of property rights & neighborhood protection
• Registration ensures accountability
• Generates revenue to support enforcement & oversight
The code will be in Chapter 9 Business Code. The draft ordinance is in the
packet for any comments or changes. The town does not have the ability to limit
the number of STR’s in town, but we can require them to have a business
license, sales tax license, and with this a STR permit.
Mayor Bratcher wondered in section 9-5-6, which says notification is to single-
family residential properties. Will that notification include condos in the area also?
Town Attorney Stuhan stated that the language follows the state law, but it does
say that notification can be to multi-family with one notice per floor. She can
review how to clarify this for condos and apartments.
Consensus of Council was to add the multi-family notification to 9-5-6.
Councilmember Nyberg asked about renting casitas and how that works. Director
Boyle stated that the code does not allow the rental of guest houses.
Mayor Bratcher mentioned a typo in 9-5-3A. Section 9-5-3(D)(5)(b) talks about
three violations within twelve months. Town Attorney Stuhan stated that this is
from state law, and the town can suspend their permit if they have three
violations in twelve months unless it is just a trash issue or parking violation that
is not serious.
Mayor Bratcher noted in 9-5-3(F) that some areas talk about Town Manager or
designee, but others just say Town Manager, so those should be consistent. In 9-
5-6(A) it talks about neighbor notification but is that to the owner of the property
or tenant or both. Town Attorney Stuhan stated that usually the notice goes to the
property address.
Mayor Bratcher asked about the penalties as they list different amounts. Town
Attorney Stuhan stated that those are from state law and include up to an amount
equal to a night’s rent, so it does allow some discretion.
Consensus of Council was to move forward with the Ordinance for the Short-term
Rental code.
Town Council Minutes of November 17, 2025
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3. Discussion and Update Regarding the Strategic Plan
Troy Smith, Town Manager, reported that the Strategic Plan was adopted by
Resolution 2320 on February 6, 2023. The Strategic Plan is a roadmap to help
the town reach its goals. BridgeGroup LLC Management Consultants worked
with the Town Council to create the plan and update the vision, mission, and core
values. There are five focus areas including guiding principles and measurable
activities to be completed between FY23 and FY26, ensuring the town makes
deliberate, smart, and sustainable choices. The five focus areas include:
• Fiscal Sustainability - Innovative, responsible policies ensuring efficiency,
transparency, and exceptional service
• Infrastructure Assets – Maintain and plan infrastructure to support community
quality of life and economic vitality
• Safe and Sustainable Quality of Life - Offer programs and events that
promote community engagement health and sustainability
• Innovative and High-Performing Organization - Maintain a safe sustainable
workplace and attract retain a committed workforce
• Economic Growth - Promote diverse high-quality development to support
economic sustainability and growth
In the Fiscal Sustainability area below shows the status:
• Utility Rate (Study) to Fund Future Infrastructure Projects – Completed
• Evaluate Enterprise Resource Program – In Progress
• Assess Existing Financial Levies and Revenue Sources – Ongoing
• Develop and Adopt a Long-Term Strategic Financial Plan for Capital Projects
(CIP) – Completed
• Review and Maintain Appropriate Reserve Funds – Ongoing
The town changed to a five-year CIP. The Enterprise Resource Program is a
very expensive change and is hard to change. The current system works, but
Finance Director Martinez is evaluating. HR uses NeoGov as almost an intranet
for employee forms and information.
In the Infrastructure Assets area below shows the status:
• Conduct a Facilities Master Plan – Completed
• Implement Wastewater Master Plan (Phase I) Recommendations –
Completed
• Conduct Airport Master Plan (External) – In Progress
• Update Pavement Condition Assessment – Completed
• Conduct a Transportation and Transit Plan (External) – In Progress
• Implement Council Direction on Community Center – In Progress
• Implement Water and Wastewater Master Plan (Years 2-4)
Recommendations – In Progress
• Evaluate Hangar and Tie Down Opportunities – In Progress
Town Council Minutes of November 17, 2025
Page 5 of 10
The community center ideas will come back on December 1st for a review of the
changes prior to spending money on design. There have been two group
meetings showing ideas.
In the Safe and Sustainable Quality of Life area below shows the status:
• Evaluate Town Code and Code Enforcement Program – In Progress
• Create Code Enforcement Office – Completed
• Conduct Parks & Trails Master Plan – Completed
• Develop Community Engagement Volunteer Program – Completed
• Evaluate and Develop Neighborhood Engagement Strategies – Completed
• Develop Arts & Culture Events – Completed with continued engagement
• Collaborate and Develop Community Events Calendar – Completed
• Seek Partnerships to Increase Recreational Programming – Completed with
continued engagement
• Strategic Annexation to Manage Urban Pressure to Economic Opportunities –
In Progress
The code enforcement office has been working on the maintenance ordinance to
help with the cleaning up of the town. In addition, the town is finalizing the
annexation policy.
In the Innovative and High Performing Organization area below shows the status:
• Evaluate High Performing Organization (HBO) Principles – Ongoing
• Implement Employee Engagement and Development Survey – Completed
• Implement Human Resource Information System and Learning Management
System Employee Software – Completed
• IT Road Mapping (Master Plan, Internal) – Completed
• Evaluate and Improve Town Website – Completed
Town Manager Smith reported that he moved away from the employee survey as
he wanted something that was more ongoing so he will be establishing an
Employee Engagement Committee.
In the Economic Growth area below shows the status:
• Identify Partnership Opportunities with Business Community Stakeholders –
Completed with continued engagement
• General Plan Update – Completed
• Zoning Code Update – In Progress
• Evaluate Implementing Economic Gardening (Business Retention and
Expansion) - Completed
• Develop and Implement Economic Marketing and Branding Strategies –
Completed
• Attract and Support the Growth of Light Industrial Business – Ongoing
Town Council Minutes of November 17, 2025
Page 6 of 10
The Zoning Code update is going slower than the Council wanted, but the town is
working to finish the project.
Town Manager Smith then explained that he wanted to drill down on a few of the
items to see if the Council wanted to continue with the direction that was given or
change direction.
The first item is the evaluation of internal fees and cost recovery policies that
show that this is ongoing. The idea was to evaluate internal fees to support cost
recovery and financial sustainability. The town has the annual consolidated fee
schedule review conducted as part of the budgeting process. Staff analyze
service costs and recommend fee adjustments to achieve cost recovery. There is
continuous review to keep fees fair, current, and aligned with the Council's Fiscal
Sustainability goals. It was suggested that the town stay on top of the fees so
that the town doesn’t have to make a large increase in fees/rates like the water
and wastewater because the previous Council didn’t want to increase the rates in
the past.
The next item is the evaluation of development impact fees that shows that it is in
progress. The objective is to align development fees with actual costs to ensure
growth pays for itself. The town must balance cost recovery with maintaining
affordable development. The cost for an official Impact Fee Study is
approximately $80,000-100,000 per fee and is required before adopting new
impact fees. The town used to collect these fees, but then the state changed the
laws, so most smaller municipalities stopped collecting due to the cost of the
study, that must be updated every five years, as well as only allowing the money
to pay for new projects. So, if you have impact fees for roads, you can’t use the
money for maintenance of existing roads, it is only for new roads. The town
added connection fees for water and sewer to collect money from new
construction to pay for water and sewer maintenance and expansion. In addition,
the Council must balance the cost to the developer to develop in town versus
outside the town.
Town Manager Smith stated that he would like to look at changing the code to
require people to connect to utilities when new construction happens. This is
especially true for commercial properties because it is a public safety issue to not
have fire coverage. It is a health issue when the septic overflows. Director Boyle
stated that development should be required to run the lines for the pipes to
connect to the water and sewer. They also have impact on police, fire, and parks,
which is not collected in the connection fees. Growth should pay for itself as the
town has a slower growth rate. Most municipalities less than 10,000 population
don’t have impact fees. Town Attorney Stuhan stated that smaller cities and
towns got rid of the impact fees as it was hard to come up with projects. Usually
the town may have a larger project and require them to build and dedicate the
infrastructure through a development agreement. They will pay the upfront costs
and then receive money back as others connect so it is a long-term investment.
Town Council Minutes of November 17, 2025
Page 7 of 10
Town Manager Smith stated that one area that the town is looking at is for
utilities up the US-93 corridor. He would like to get a developer to build the
infrastructure and then get paid back as others connect. In addition, rate payers
need to pay their fair share to maintain the system, so the rates need to cover the
costs of the system. Connection fees help to pay for expansion of the system.
Consensus of Council was to mark this as complete and not pursue impact fees.
Town Manager Smith stated that there are three things to look at when you have
declining revenues:
• Reduce costs which means eliminating services
• Increase revenue which means looking at property tax and sales tax
• Open up development which can be encouraged by changes to the codes
The next area to review was the development and implementation of a
wayfinding plan. This item was based on feedback received from the Economic
Development and Transportation Advisory Committee (EDTAC) in the summer of
2024. A workgroup of committee members and community organizations met
throughout 2024 and early 2025 to establish goals and a vision. In 2025, staff
began inventorying locations and developing placement recommendations. The
timeline extended to FY26 to comply with state requirements for highway sign
placement. The project remains active, focusing on improved navigation and
enhanced community identity. This year there was $5,000 in the budget to start
this with three phases that were more costly. Phase one was predominately
ADOT permitting and signs. Phase 2 and 3 were the development of wayfinding
signs throughout the community.
Director Boyle stated that the costs for Phase 1 are now $13,000 and Phase 2
are $40,000-70,000. Phase 1 was ADOT inventory signs to direct people into the
downtown. Phase 2 was directional signs.
Council would like to delay this past FY27, but possibly consider marketing in the
budget to get people to town, but once they are here signs aren’t needed.
Town Manager Smith stated that he will take this back to EDTAC as maybe we
will just look at what can be done with the $5,000 that is in this year’s budget. We
could get a revised scope that is not so costly.
The next item is an economic development web portal. The development of the
web portal began in 2025 to serve as central hub for economic development
resources and information. A draft version was presented to EDTAC in January
2025. There was supposed to be a working draft completed by early
summer 2025, pending additional review but this was Tim Suan who was working
on this, and current staff hasn’t been able to get access to the system. The
responsibility has been reassigned to Community Development Department with
a completion date unknown. The question is why have a web portal instead of
Town Council Minutes of November 17, 2025
Page 8 of 10
just putting information on the town’s webpages. Director Boyle thought this was
based on a program from the City of Page where it showed commercial
vacancies and utilities for those properties. There is not enough staff to maintain
a web portal and anyone interested can call town staff for the information on
utilities.
Consensus of Council was to come up with an economic development web page
instead of a web portal.
Town Manager Smith stated the last item for discussion is an economic
development strategic plan. The project timeline was extended after transitioning
from consultant-led effort to staff-led initiative. The Council adopted the
Wickenburg 2045 General Plan with seven economic development goals. The
General Plan includes 47 policies to achieve these goals. Council’s strategic plan
emphasizes Economic Growth as a focus area with six guiding principles.
EDTAC is doing their own strategic plan that will complement the Council’s
strategic plan.
Consensus of Council was to not do this item.
4. Presentation and Discussion Regarding Tax 101 Overview
Robert Martinez, Finance Director, reported that this will be an overview of taxes.
In making this presentation he looked at 28 other communities with populations
ranging between 4,000-20,000. One of the hard parts is the vast difference in tax
and revenue structure as well as services provided. It’s unreasonable to compare
one tax to another, you must compare the community’s portfolio of revenue
collections. He showed a comparison of other communities’ base sales tax rate,
their 23/24 tax revenue, their food for home consumption (FHC) rate, and their
tax per capita. The tax per capita is just the total tax revenue divided by the
population.
The next comparison shows the base tax rate and if they have a retail sales tax
rate for single items over a specified dollar amount.
• Out of the 28 surveyed communities, 11 have a reduced Retail Sales Tax rate
that applies to single item purchases over a specified $ amount
• Wickenburg has a Retail Sales Tax rate of 1.69% on single items over $5,000
Town Council Minutes of November 17, 2025
Page 9 of 10
• 5 surveyed communities apply a Retail Sales Tax rate to single items over
$5,000
• 2 community applies a Retail Sales Tax rate of 2.00% to single items
over $3,000
• 1 community applies a Retail Sales Tax rate of 1.50% to single items over
$6,000
• 3 communities apply a Retail Sales Tax rate to single items over $10,000
• The average tax rate of the 11 who apply a reduced tax rate is 2.10%
The next comparison showed the base tax rate, the restaurant & bars tax, bed
tax, and property tax.
In reviewing the Maricopa County property tax, this is based on the sale of a
property listed at $524K. The Town of Wickenburg is receiving 7.64% of the total
property tax. The state only allows limited property value that can only grow by
5% each year unless there are changes on the property to increase it more, such
as a new building. For Yavapai County property tax, this is based on the sale of a
property within Wickenburg Ranch listed at $380K. The Town of Wickenburg is
receiving 6.9% of the total property tax. Comparing other cities in the state, 53 of
91 (58%) have either a primary and/or secondary property tax. 49 of 91 (54%)
have a primary property tax.
• Primary range is from $0.1018 to $5.2164
• 23 have an additional secondary tax
• Secondary range is from $0.1401 to $2.7115
• Secondary tax is used to cover financing of bonds
To show why you can’t compare cities because everyone is different, below are
3 examples:
• Town of Wickenburg has a population of 8,301 with a base tax and FHC rate
of 2.20%, restaurant and bars tax of 2.20%, bed tax of 3.00%, and a property
tax rate of $0.3997, 1.69% tax rate for single item purchases over $5,000
o Generates $12.1M in revenue
• City of Nogales has a population of 19,965 with a base tax and FHC rate of
2.00%, restaurant and bars tax of 2.00%, bed tax of 4.00%, and a property
tax rate of $0, does not have a reduced tax rate for single item purchases
Town Council Minutes of November 17, 2025
Page 10 of 10
o Generates $18.2M in revenue
• City of Winslow has a population of 8,577 with a base tax and FHC rate of
3.00%, restaurant and bars tax of 3.00%, bed tax of 2.00%, and a property
tax rate of $1.3047, does not have a reduced tax rate for single item
purchases
o Generates $9.2M in revenue
In conclusion, the average TPT rate for smaller communities in Arizona is 3.16%
with Wickenburg at 2.2%. For sales tax, the state’s TPT is 5.60% and the county
is 0.70%, which makes the total sales tax rate at 8.50%. Wickenburg’s TPT rate
was increased to 2.20% on June 1, 2009. The property tax levy has maintained
while the rate has decreased with the property tax generating 3% of general fund
revenue. Funding is used to provide all general fund services: emergency
communications, police, fire, parks & recreation and other town services.
Currently, the 2.2% you pay on TPT base tax goes to fund community services,
except for items over $5,000 where the sales tax rate is at 1.69%.
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 5:02 PM
SECONDED BY Councilmember Margaret Nyberg
VOTE: 6 – 0 (Yes – Mayor Bratcher, 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 study session of the Town Council of Wickenburg, Arizona held on November 17,
2025. I further certify the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was
present.
Amy Brown, MMC
Town Clerk