Minutes 02/17/26 Study Session

MINUTES 
 
WICKENBURG COMMON COUNCIL 
STUDY SESSION 
Tuesday, February 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 3:12 PM 
 
B. ROLL CALL 
Present: 
Mayor BG Bratcher  
Councilmember Kristy Bedoian 
Councilmember Shawn Clark  
Councilmember Margaret Nyberg 
Councilmember Rebecca Rovey 
Absent: 
Vice Mayor Brian Jones 
Councilmember Art Rubash 
Staff Present: 
Troy Smith, Town Manager 
Jon Paladini, Town Attorney 
Steve Boyle, Community Development Director 
Amy Brown, Town Clerk 
Cason Chambers, Public Works Director 
Les Brown, Police Chief 
Rosa Garcia-Marquez, Court Administrator 
Robert Martinez, Finance Director 
Tarah Mayerhofer, Human Resources Director 
Ed Temerowski, Fire Chief 
 
C. ITEMS OF BUSINESS 
 
1. Discussion and Direction to Staff Regarding FY27 Budget Preparation 
 
Troy Smith, Town Manager, stated that the numbers will change as we progress 
through the development of the annual budget. The numbers today are based on 
the expenses and revenues of today, but as we move further along, we will have 
updated expenses and revenue numbers so that we will update the documents. 
The budget is a financial plan for achieving the goals of the Council and a 
fundamental policy document. The tentative budget sets the expenditure 
limitation. The final budget includes the tax rate for property taxes. The reserves 
and contingencies are set by Council policy, but the town has been at double the 
policy.

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The direction he has provided to management is that there will be no increases 
and possible reductions to the departmental baseline operating budget for the 
next fiscal year. Some lines will be increased due to increased costs because of 
inflation and policy changes. Department have been encouraged to find internal 
efficiencies where possible and if they want to offer a new service, they need to 
cut something else. The finance department is going to use previous year’s 
budget numbers as a start to the budget discussion. Town Manager Smith will be 
meeting with the departments next week. He is not expecting to fund any new 
personnel requests. The town will continue to put forward a five-year Capital 
Improvement Plan (CIP). In addition, the goal is to reduce the town’s reliance on 
one-time revenues. Construction activity is slowing and Wickenburg Ranch has 
about 100 vacant lots left in Phase 1, and they are only building homes that have 
sold, not any new spec homes. 
 
The budget will have the funding aligned with the Council priorities and adopted 
plans in order to preserve financial resilience while supporting key initiatives. It 
will limit operational spending within anticipated revenue projections and use of 
the fund balance will be limited to capital improvement projects (CIP) The west 
valley cities are anticipating 5%-7% salary increases and we are also anticipating 
an increase to health insurance costs. He will continue the operating contingency 
as a Town Manager fund for flexibility and increased accountability.  
 
There will be a budget work session on March 16th. The draft budget is expected 
to come to the Council on April 20th. The tentative budget should come on May 
4th setting the expenditure limitation. The final budget and tax levy is planned for 
June 1st with the property tax rate on July 6th.  
 
Staff will be bringing some procurement code updates to the Council to clarify 
that the $50,000 amount to bring an item to Council is for one transaction that is 
over that amount. In addition, the settlement authority will be coming soon to 
review that amount. A transfer from a capital line item requires Town Council 
approval prior to incurring the expense. A transfer between funds requires Town 
Council approval prior to incurring the expense, that would be a transfer from the 
General Fund to another fund. A transfer within the same department requires 
approval of the Department Director prior to incurring the expense. 
 
Reserves and contingencies should be appropriate to provide for emergencies, 
mid-year requests, and unanticipated expenditures. The General Fund Reserve 
will be maintained in an amount not less than 15% of new General Fund 
revenues for the budgeted fiscal year. The Contingency will be established for all 
other applicable funds of at least 10%, and the equity of all funds will be 
maintained to meet the objectives of the fund. $100,000 will be budgeted under 
General Services each year to indemnify the town of unanticipated insurance 
claims. Expenditures may be made from contingencies only upon approval by the 
Town Council. The Council established Exhibit B this past year for items that the

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Council approved in the budget that don’t need to come back to them for final 
approval as long as they are within the budget for the project.  
 
Sales and use taxes are the primary source of Arizona’s General Fund which 
generates $8.2 billion in revenue. The state’s FY26 budget is projected to have 
$17.77 billion in revenues which is an increase of 8.2% from FY25 that was 
$17.57 billion. Arizona’s economy is experiencing a slow-growth phase, however, 
there continues to be strong population growth. The town uses several inflation 
indexes including the Producer Price Index, Gross Domestic Product, 
Construction Price Index, Employment Cost Index, and Municipal Cost Index. 
The addition of San Tan Valley as the 92nd city in Arizona with a population over 
100,000 will reduce revenues from the state to all cities and towns with some of 
the impact still now known. The sales tax impact is expected to be about 
$1,682.14 per month.  
 
There are several bills in the state legislature right now that will affect the town 
negatively financially including: 
 
• HCR2052 & HB4030 - Prohibits counties and municipalities, from July 1, 
2026, through June 30, 2030, from increasing fees, transaction privilege tax 
rates, surcharges, or municipally provided utility rates above amounts 
authorized in the FY26 budget and from adopting new tax classifications or 
expanding the tax base, subject to limited voter-approved exceptions 
 
• HB2400 – Provides relief for motorist during the summer months (May thru 
September), due to required specialty fuel blend, which costs more. The bill 
would reduce fuel costs by $.18 per gallon which will reduce the HURF 
distribution by $21 million to local governments. 
 
• SB1504 – Modifies provisions related to the Public Safety Personnel 
Retirement System (PSPRS) in Arizona, specifically adjusts the definition of 
“normal retirement date” for members hired on or after July 1, 2017, allowing 
them to retire with fifteen years of credited service if they are at least fifty-five 
years old, rather than requiring twenty-five years of service and changes the 
cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) 
 
• Tax Conformity – Arizona does not automatically conform to federal tax law 
changes and there is currently uncertainty regarding the Governor and 
Legislature's approach to conformity and the resulting impact on state income 
tax revenues. Local governments rely on a shared portion of these revenues 
to support their General Fund. The League of Arizona Cities and Towns has 
estimated financial impacts between $40 million and $80 million in loss to 
State Shared Revenue for local government depending on the final decision. 
 
• HCR2018 and HB2839 would impact which food items are subject to the 
Town of Wickenburg Food for Home Consumption Sales Tax with language

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specifically designed to exempt any item eligible for the Supplemental 
Assistance Program (SNAP) from this tax category, rendering those items 
non-taxable. If either is approved, the majority of food items currently taxed in 
this category would be rendered non-taxable at an estimated loss to the town 
of $800,000-900,000. 
 
• HB 2290 - Introduces provisions that would alter the allocation of remote retail 
sales tax revenue among tax jurisdictions. Currently, Transaction Privilege 
Tax (TPT) is calculated and remitted based on the “ship to” address. As 
drafted, HB2290 would change the TPT calculation and remittance basis to 
the “ship from” address which will heavily impact cities and towns without 
warehouse presence. This is estimated to reduce town TPT revenue by 
approximately $400,000.   
 
If the bills passed the town could see a revenue loss of $1.167 million or about 
10% of the funding, which would result in staff and service reductions. 
 
Robert Martinez, Finance Director, showed that the General Fund revenue 
historical trend shows the town at about the FY 2022-23 amount. Below shows 
the General Fund revenue breakdown:

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The FY27 current projected fund balance is $15,000,000. Town current property 
tax rate is .3997, with the levy at $615,000. If the Council doesn’t want to 
increase the collections to avoid the truth in taxation hearing, the net effect will be 
lowering the current tax rate and maintaining the levy.

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In comparison for property tax, 53 of 91 (58%) have either primary and/or 
secondary tax, with 49 having a primary property tax. The primary property tax 
rate range is from $0.1018 to $5.2164. The secondary property tax is collected 
by 23 communities with the range from $0.1401 to $2.7115 and this is used to 
cover financing of bonds.  
 
Out of the 28 communities surveyed, 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 
• In FY25, Wickenburg lost out on $32,000 of revenue due to the single item 
rule 
• 5 communities apply a Retail Sales Tax rate to single items over $5,000 
• 2 communities apply 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% 
 
Director Martinez concluded regarding the taxes, that the average TPT rate for 
smaller communities in Arizona is 3.16% with Wickenburg’s current rate at 
2.20%. the State of Arizona TPT is at 5.60%, Wickenburg is at 2.20% and 
Maricopa County is at 0.70%, for a total sales tax rate of 8.50%. Wickenburg’s 
TPT rate increased to 2.20% on June 1, 2009. The property tax levy has 
maintained while the rate has decreased and generates 3% of general fund 
revenue. Funding is used to provide all general fund services: emergency 
communications, police, fire, parks & recreation and other town services. 
 
Director Martinez stated that the town will continue with a 5-year CIP plan that 
was implemented in FY26. The total budget for projects is listed below: 
• $19,082,176 budgeted in FY26 
• $18,300,600 proposed in FY27

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Town Manager Smith stated that the design for Sunrise Park was delayed due to 
budget revenue shortfall concerns. Based on the second quarter financial report, 
plan will move forward with design where $650,000 was budgeted in FY26 for 
60% design plans.  
 
Council consensus was to move forward with the design.  
 
Town Manager Smith concluded that the next budget study session will be on 
March 16th with another month of data at that time. The town hasn’t had a project 
manager for the CIP projects, so some of the projects from last fiscal year will roll 
over into this next fiscal year and those are being determined now. The 
Community Center and Sunrise will take a lot of CIP funding.  
 
Councilmember Bedoian wanted to emphasize that streets are a priority. Town 
Manager Smith stated that the new Public Works Director Cason Chambers, is 
reviewing the pavement preservation plan and will come back with some 
changes moving forward.  
 
Councilmember Bedoian also wanted the Council to decide what to do with the 
Coconino parking area, since that hasn’t been decided by the Council. Town 
Manager Smith stated that there have been discussions with museum about 
completing the parking lot. They are now using it as a construction staging area, 
but the idea is that it would be turned into a parking lot once the construction is 
done. The museum construction has been moved up due to the funding received. 
There was a possibility for street parking with a narrower road, but that would 
have to be redesigned. Currently the town has paid for the design work for a 
paved flat parking lot. The museum plans to have construction completed in 
eighteen months. There is a need for more parking in the downtown area for 
public parking.  
 
Town Manager Smith asked about the property tax rate. Council wanted to wait 
until the numbers are in to determine the property tax. If the rate stays the same, 
it will avoid the need for the truth in taxation postings, and this will be brought 
back in March.  
 
Town Attorney Paladini stated that a sales tax increase will take six months to go 
through the process to increase.  
 
Councilmember Bedoian would like to look at the sales tax for items over $5,000 
and the bed tax.  
 
Mayor Bratcher would like to know about the WIFA loans that the town has.   
 
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.)

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E. ADJOURNMENT  
 
MOVED BY Councilmember Rebecca Rovey to adjourn at approximately 4:43 PM 
SECONDED BY Councilmember Margaret Nyberg  
VOTE: 5 – 0 (Yes – Mayor Bratcher, Councilmembers Bedoian, Clark, Nyberg, and 
Rovey) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
         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 February 17, 
2026. I further certify the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was 
present.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Amy Brown, MMC 
Town Clerk