Phoenix City Council Policy Session - February 25, 2025

e
good afternoon and welcome to the
February 25th policy meeting of the
Phoenix City Council I will now call the
meeting to order we beginning with a
very special treat today one that we
don't always have we have Cub Scout Pack
six from Den 2 here with us to do the
Pledge of Allegiance these Scouts
joining us today have just completed
their Arrow of Light rank in Cub Scouts
the highest and most involved level each
of them has learned and modeled the
values of the Scout Law and oath over
the years Which shapes them into our
Future Leaders they are challenged to be
and feel free to help me with this part
trustworthy loyal full friendly
courteous kind obedient cheerful Thrifty
Brave clean and
Reverend wow nice good job that was a
very impressive and equally impressive
councilman Robinson knew the
[Laughter]
words we are so thankful that they care
enough to ask them question ask
questions about how they can be more
impactful on our world make it more
beautiful just and
sustainable and that they act on that
oath every single day and now I would
invite them to come forward to help us
start the formal meeting after they help
us with the Pledge of Allegiance they're
going to come back behind and and say
hello to the city
council all
right all right Connor the floor is
yours please rise for the Pledge of
Allegiance Scouts
attention Scout salute
please join me in the Pledge of
Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the
flag of the United States of America and
to the Republic for which it stands one
nation under God indivisible with
liberty and justice for
[Applause]
all wonderful job
we can have how the kids come on back
we're going to take a picture with
that
e e
well thank you to our Scouts for leading
us in a very powerful rendition of the
Pledge and congratulations on your
recent achievements we'll uh now go to
roll
call councilman gind here councilwoman W
here councilwoman Hajj Washington here
councilwoman
Pastor here councilman Robinson here
councilwoman
Stark here Cilan
wearing vice mayor O'Brien here mayor
GGO here and now we'll begin with
Council information and presentations
we'll begin with councilwoman Stark if
we could bring up her
Powerpoint thank you uh mayor um
actually just a couple comments more
than anything I want to recognize you
for being recognized by CN W uh BC as a
change maker of the year and I know
that's largely because of all the work
you did in wooing the semiconductor uh
facility to our great city as a matter
of fact uh vice mayor ofine and I did
the uh
Phoenix police foundation onw walk on
Sunday and were they in full force they
were running the course um and it was
great to see them and see them be a part
of our community and a large part of
that is due to you so congratulations on
your award and that's it now
thanks thank you so much much
appreciated shall we go next to
councilman councilwoman
gado thank you mayor um can't believe
spring training is upon us um my first
report at El Oso Park um yesterday I had
um the honor to be at the ribbon cutting
of the reopening of the baseball fields
at El loso Park as a mom of two young
boys and as a mom that participated in
the cactus Youth Baseball league for
over three years it was great it was um
full circle for me yesterday um to see
how my son played in these fields um
maybe 10 years ago and now to see these
fields being renovated um by the
diamondb foundation it's it's incredible
um to see all those kids out there um
ready to play baseball um just continue
to work on the equity issues um in and
West and West Phoenix and for these kids
to see that they can also have the same
type of feels on the west side as they
do on the east side of Phoenix I think
it's incredible um just to think about
all of the kids that will some they be
professional baseball players and other
great things um that they will be able
to accomplish I want to thank that too
family the diamondb foundation our Parks
director Cynthia agalar and everyone
else in the Parks and Rec Department for
all of their hard work on this item um
secondly um we had our marille Mercado
kickoff um on
329 and I would like to report about
wanted to share that it was huge success
it was our first one for the year and it
was at the mville community center this
past Saturday and I would like to invite
all of you to our next marville Mercado
taking place on March 29th from 12: to
400 p.m. at the marville community
center come and explore local businesses
celebrate culture and enjoy live enter
entertainment in the heart of marel and
third one that we've been looking
forward to at least um people in
District 5 constituents have been
looking forward to the grand opening of
the canal scape um it's also going to be
happening on March 29th um the
celebration will be from 10:00 a.m. to
12:00 p.m. celebrating the completion of
another four miles of outdoor amenities
to the canalscape public parking will be
located at marville high school on 59th
Avenue and Indian School where you can
enjoy light bites before a ceremonial
walk along the canal to our celebration
and ribbon cutting on 63rd Avenue in
clarenton and a program that we've been
talking about for a very long time and
has been very successful our gated alley
program the thousandth alley um has been
gated or will be gated um this year and
I am delighted to announce that we will
be celebrating the a thousand gated
alley on Saturday March 22nd at 9:00
a.m. on 59th Avenue in kulage Street
this is an exciting and important
Milestone milestone for this project and
we are excited to celebrate this in
District 5 the Gated alley program has
been a pivotal program to help deter
detour crime and blight in neighborhoods
all over Phoenix and we are excited to
celebrate this success thank you
mayor thank you so much we'll go to
councilman galinda alira next thank you
mayor um first slide
please late last month the district 7
Community welcome fire station 62 it's a
state-of-the-art facility designed to
enhance emergency services and response
times in the growing Southwest Phoenix
area the station was built with the
health and well-being of firefighters
and paramedics in mind incorporating
features to reduce hazardous exposure
and prevent cancer its addition
strengthens Public Safety and
demonstrates a continued commitment to
protecting both First Responders and
residents next slide
please thank you to everyone who
volunteered and assisted with the point
in time count the critical data
collected plays a vital role in shaping
effective strategies and ensuring that
individuals experiencing homelessness
receive the support and resources they
need a special thanks to Sarah mccan
from OS the office of Homeless Solutions
for guiding me through the process
thanks to the dedication of Valley Metro
Marcus Coleman and his team South
Phoenix will finally be connected to
downtown by Light Rail providing
residents with improved access to jobs
education and opportunities across the
valley I'm sorry I forgot to say next
slide there you go now we can go to next
slide councilwoman hodj Washington and I
kicked off the month by teaming up for a
float in the LaVine Community parade
huge thanks to Jeff Sprout and the
LaVine Lions Club for putting together
such a great event and bringing the
community together next
slide a couple of weeks ago I had the
honor of joining fellow council members
to kick off Black History Month as this
month comes to an end just remember
black history is Phoenix history black
history is Arizona history and we don't
have to wait for one month to celebrate
it it's something that can be celebrated
36524 next
slide heads up for anyone who uses a
central Bridge construction is underway
for the next 12 weeks reducing traffic
to just one lane to avoid delays
consider using the 7th Street and 7th
Avenue Bridges as an alternate route I
assure you it is worth the construction
time and I'm sorry that you're going to
that there will be some inconvenience to
this but it will be such a beautiful
feature light feature when it is
installed and it will certainly be an
icon for South
Phoenix next slide
please this Thursday Friendly House will
be offering immigration Legal Services
at Burton Bar library which is in
district 7 from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m.
additional sessions will also be held on
March 27th and April 4th next
slide huge thanks to the LaVine
Community Council for an amazing
barbecue it is Legend Dairy I took third
place in the milking in the Cow Milking
competition though I'm pretty sure that
I would have gotten first if there had
not been a ringer in the mix and I also
want to extend my congratulations to
Congress woman um Yasmin onari who was
defending her title um I kind of beat
her but
she's she's not she she she pledged to
return to regain her title and so I wish
her well come out next Saturday March
8th and C oh next
slide come out next Saturday March 8th
and celebrate the South Central
extension downtown Hub light rail line
there will be food and other gives away
on giveaway it will be the first time
that the Light Rail train will reach
Baseline in central which is just an
amazing opportunity to witness it and
really signaling that we are so close to
having light rail going up and down
south
Phoenix next slide to stay connected to
the H to what's happening around the
city and to get more involved check out
phoenix.gov as always if you live in
district 7 and want to contact me it's
easy you can reach out through any of
the options on the screen I'm here to
serve you and greatly value your input a
word about constituent Services we are
here to help and to assist district 7
residents but please know that any
request for assistance meant to
dehumanize the unhoused or to or to
reduce the Dignity of any person is Dead
on Arrival I will not be a party to that
and you will it does not Merit a
response we're here to serve the good
Working Families of district 7 but we
are not here to create harm or danger or
to discriminate others thank you
mayor thank you we'll go next to
councilwoman HUD
Washington thank you
mayor while we wait on our PowerPoint a
little birdie told me that today is our
water director's birthday happy birthday
trory happy
birthday thank you mayor there's been
many activities and events going on
since our last policy meeting but I
wanted to highlight a few next slide
please to kick off black Black History
Month I have the incredible time
partnering with hike with a firefighter
where I join local residents and had the
opportunity to learn more about fire
safety as well as the vital work done by
our firefighters to keep our community
safe it was fun informative a great way
to connect with our heroes while
enjoying the Great Outdoors as
councilman gindo said we had a blast at
the LaVine parade where we celebrated
with the community enjoyed the vibrant
floats and cheered on the local
participants it was a great opportunity
to come together honor our neighborhood
and share in the excitement of such a j
joyous and spirited
event next slide
please also had the reward and
experience of attending the Junior
Achievement 3D kickoff where I was
inspired by the passion and the
entrepreneurial Spirit of the young
participant and enjoyed engaging with
the Future Leaders of the community I
also had a great time at the Broadway
house apartment celebration where I
joined the community in in vibrant
festivities um live entertainment and
connecting with residents in a joyful
atmosphere I would like to thank their
board for the invitation and
congratulate Pastor Warren Stewart senr
on a job well done serving in this role
next
slide I also proudly attended the
unveiling of the Devon Booker Court
where I celebrated the impact of sports
in the community and applauded the NBA
star's dedication to inspiring local
youth through his commitment to giving
back I would like to give a special
thank you to chano p laasa and our city
of Phoenix parks department for their
tireless efforts to make this event a
success I also had the privilege of
attending the nfb PBA and the Phoenix
Hispanic Network afro Latina event where
I C where we celebrated the incredible
achievement and the resilience of the
afro Latino Community it was an
inspiring opportunity to engage in
meaningful conversation about diversity
inclusion and how we can continue to
uplift and Empower underrepresented
communities next slide
please I was also honored to be featured
in the Arizona Museum of black history
exhibit called notable women in Arizona
black history where there are
highlighting women Trail brazers
throughout the state I encourage
everyone to go visit the West atrium of
the convention center to learn more
about this Museum and more about the
amazing people I want to say thank you
to Mr Fred Warren as well as Jerry and
and the convention center for allowing
them to put together an exhibit that was
educational and meaningful
next
slide on February 22nd I got to
celebrate mansuri Festival um where I
got to experience the vibrant culture
traditions and music of the japanes
community it was a beautiful celebration
of diversity and I really enjoyed
connecting with so many people while
enjoying the Lively atmosphere and
delicious food we also seller had a
great time over at East Lake Parks jazz
festival where we connected with the
community and celebrated the rich
cultural heritage that makes our
community so special it was a day full
of great music great people and
Unforgettable memories thank you to the
East Lake Park neighborhood association
for hosting an amazing event and last
but not least I had a fantastic time at
the Central City uh Central City paloa
where I got to connect with residents
also enjoy great local food and
activities and connected with many
resource vendors it was a great reminder
of the strength and unity that Central
City that helps make Central City Thrive
next slide please
clearly there was a lot going on LaVine
barbecue as we mentioned was a day we
always we look forward to each year we
had a great time tbling and talking to
our constituents the weather cooperated
and provided a great backdrop I did not
participate in the milking competition I
I thought it was fair to give others a
chance to
participate I want to thank the LaVine
Community Council and all of the other
partners for putting together such a
great Community event next slide
please we are looking forward to our
next coffee with kha in partnership with
the Perry Park neighborhood association
on Friday February 28th the event starts
at 10:00 a.m. and will take place at the
salute El balance um Community Center I
hope to see you all there next
slide as always if you need help with
city services or notice an issue in your
community please don't hesitate to reach
out to our office that is all I have
thank you
mayor thank you councilwoman Pastor
thank you mayor
I will wait for the slides or I'll start
um over the weekend District 4 hosted a
listening session for residents to
express their concerns with reporting to
Phoenix cares residents got a brief
overview of Phoenix cares and all the
Departments involved in the process the
initiatives and the accomplishments of
uh the office of homeless solution and
were then given a platform to ask
questions and tell their story thank you
to all who attended we had a very
productive discussion focused on keeping
our neighborhoods safe and connected
next slide Springtime is here which
means street fairs are here this month
we attended the Willow and corado street
fairs connecting with residents from our
historic neighborhoods in across
District
4 next slide sweno park is now open with
a with new features I got to celebrate
with community members representative
Cesar A agil Aguilar and and Senator
Anna Hernandez who have activate uh
advocated for these updates for years I
would like to thank the students at
Joseph zto elementary school for working
on this and selecting the design of the
playground and it's their playground I
also like to thank boded for also their
voice we are we are continuing
improvements on this park chill drinking
fountains and art are coming soon and
the kids at Joseph zto will also be
involved in the art feature installation
next slide it was truly an honor to
celebrate the legacy of D Dr Martin
Luther King alongside our community in
downtown Phoenix Martin Luther King Jr
changed the course of American history
and dedicated his life to challenging
the systems of segregation and
oppression his message reminds us that
the fight for justice and equality is
ongoing next slide Carl Hayden staff
students and neighbors are all gathered
to celebrate a long awaited reopening of
Falcon Park this project was a very was
very very special and very exciting
Falcon Park has a long and Rich history
in our community the property was
purchased in 1956 for
$28,000 with the vision of creating a
public park fast forward to 2024 and
these Renovations have further elevated
the Park's offerings including a brand
new accessible playground to provide
fund for children of all ages a newly
renovated restroom new and energy
efficient Sports field lighting new ADA
Compliant walkways making the park more
accessible to everyone regardless of
mobility and renovated Sports courts and
Fields and we are looking for uh
exercise equipment in the
future next
slide as you can see here are the
upcoming events in District 4 Mel melro
Street Fair Midtown Sunday off Central
Street Fair and cantle palm crof home
tour and Street Fair looking forward to
seeing
you for Cesar Chava's day 2025 we are
hosting a neighborhood cleanup on the
west side near Morris K Udall Middle
School we're looking for volunteers of
all ages please scan the QR Co code to
sign
up and please do not hesitate to reach
out to my office if you have any
questions concerns or suggestions we are
here to help you and serve you thank you
thank you so much any final comments All
right we will go to our first item
general fund forecast and multi-year
forecast want to welcome up our budget
and research director Amber and thank
Amber Jeff and the whole B andr team for
your expertise and creativity as we
navigate a budget forecast that is
significantly impacted by state action
the former Governor's flat tax and the
elimination of the residential rental
tax have detrimental consequences to the
tune of more than $90 million in fiscal
year 2526 alone as we'll see in the
presentation we Face a more than 47
million hit to our general fund next
fiscal year and even greater reductions
in fiscal years 26 and 27 beyond the hit
to our general fund we're seeing
shortfalls to our Public Safety
specialty funds parks and preserves and
transportation 2050 funding these
funding redu ctions mean indirect impact
to Phoenix residents unless a new
Revenue source is identified this means
slower fire and police response times
reduced homelessness services and
affordable housing initiatives and
impacts to our library and park systems
on top of these drastic reductions the
state legislature is now considering
additional legislation that would impact
our City's funding including Public
Safety diverting $200 million from the
city of Phoenix to pay for renovations
at chasefield a building we do not even
own these are dollars that fund our
firefighters who respond to Medical
emergencies help police officers fight
crime and combat homelessness I'm
grateful to our local stakeholders who
understand the gravity of these
reductions and the importance of
essential city services thank you for
your support as we consider Revenue
replacement options and I'll Al turn it
to our city manager Jeff Barton mayor
members of the council first and
foremost I want to thank you for giving
us this opportunity to speak with you
today uh the multi-year forecast is a
very critical part of our budget
balancing process that we go through
each and every every single year I would
say this year it's probably more
important and more critical than ever
given some of the actions that you've
already referenced mayor as well as some
of those that we'll be discussing a
little bit more in detail um I wish I
had better news but as a result of the
the the impact of the local economy the
impact of residential rental the impact
of the flat tax as well as just the
overall increase inflationary pressures
that we feel on our own budget the city
is faced with making some tough choices
unlike the federal government we are we
are required to balance our budget we
cannot deficit spend and for my 28 years
at the city I've never been in a
position where there hasn't always been
a demand for more services not less and
so I think what we're faced with is
trying to meet the needs of the council
to meet the needs of our residents and
citizens but we're operating within the
confines of what our Revenue generates
and so today what Amber and I are going
to walk you through is a plan as to how
we can balance the budget again I know
no one likes to talk about tax increases
but we're here today to talk about one
of those options to help balance this
budget is a potential TPT increase and
and for the record I think it's
important to reference the fact that our
2.3% sales tax the 1.2% of that rate
roughly 52% of that rate goes to the
general fund and it has not been
increased since 1986 but yet our
services have dramatically increased in
that period of time so with that being
said I'll turn it over to
Amber all right thank you very much Jeff
mayor members of the council and the
public pleased to be here today to
present to you the preliminary
2526 general fund budget status and
multi-year forecast so today I'm going
to cover the forecast discuss its
purpose provide an overview I'll then
give a brief economic update I'll then
go over the general fund revenue and
expenditure assumptions and forecasts
I'll discuss the 2526 budget status for
next year as long as well as the
Baseline forecast results and then I'll
discuss the proposed strategies to
balance the general fund budget going
forward and talk about next step for
Budget
adoption so Council as you're aware we
do the multi-year forecast because it is
considered to be a financial best
practice for the government Finance
Officers Association it does provide you
with a framework for adopting a balanced
budget as you're required to do every
year it helps to G guide your decision-
making as it pertains to city services
we do consult with economic experts
including Arizona State University the
University of Arizona through the
forecasting project as well as the
state's joint legislative budget
Committee in constructing our
forecast so the general fund budget
forecast is made up of two main
components our resources which is made
up of city and state sales tax our state
shared revenues Department fees and
charges interest earnings transfers and
recoveries and our fund balance our
expenditures or our cost to provide
programs and services is made up
primarily of our employee costs for
salaries and benefits including pension
as well as contractuals Commodities
Capital outlay as well as budgeting our
contingency amount every year in the
need in the event it would were to be
needed so when we take our estimated
resources less our estimated costs we
arrive at an annual Surplus or a deficit
because the council's required to adopt
a balance budget in years where we would
have a surplus the council could look to
expand or add additional programs and
services or possibly increase employee
compensation if there was a projected
deficit the council would me to make
difficult decisions including reducing
programs and services or potentially
increasing revenues where it's within
your authority to do so so in terms of
the economy overall particularly for
Phoenix Phoenix Metro and the state we
have good news it's low unemployment we
have a strong job market people are
entering back into the workforce since
the pandemic we have moderating
inflation and continued wage growth
however it does appear that is slowing
the US economy is growing according to
the United unit States Bureau of
economic analysis Real gross domestic
product which is a common measure of
economic strength grew last year at
2.8% and it is estimated per the
conference board to grow in 2025 by
2.3% Arizona jobs are also doing better
than the nation outpacing it in terms of
the job growth 2.1% for Arizona compared
to
1.66% in the US this trend is expected
to continue however to slow in 202 25
that is per the University of Arizona's
economic business Research
Center there are risks or headwinds to
the broader economic Outlook including
High Consumer Debt levels High interest
rates low housing affordability some
Market challenges with labor significant
national debt geopolitical events Global
Supply Chain disruptions just recently a
lot of uncertainty about tariffs
taxation what effects those are going to
have on the broader economy it's not
known the new Trump Administration as
well as Federal Reserve actions also are
causing a lot of uncertainty and Market
volatility as I mentioned inflation is
moderating I'm going to show a chart
here momentarily but we still have
increased costs we do not have deflation
prices are also significantly higher
today than they were three years ago the
uh Consumer Price Index west region per
the United States Bureau of Labor
Statistics had CPI 2.5% in December
2024 other risks beyond the broader
economic considerations are State
legislation that can happen either in
the current session or going forward
that would continue to limit your local
control reduce City revenues or increase
our costs We are following that very
closely as well as our government
relations
team so general fund Revenue some of the
broader or B more important assumptions
that are included in our Baseline model
I'm going to go over those I also want
to point the council and the public to
the city council report that's available
online has a lot of information about
how we've constructed the model but some
of those basic assumptions no future fee
increases or decreases and no new
sources of revenue in the Baseline model
our annual revenue estimates are based
on our trusted economic experts
including using our statistical
econometric model built by the
University of Arizona for estimating
sales tax we are not assuming or
building any type of recession into the
forecast we are accounting for a
Slowdown in sales tax growth rates
that's because of year-to-date data
which we follow very closely is
indicating our Revenue growth is slowing
so we have to make sure we're
conservative in our forecast and we
don't get too aggressive we've built
that in we've accounted for the impacts
from the recent legislative impacts of
cill 1131 1828 into the projections as
well that's eliminating the residential
rental sales tax effective January and
reducing the state shared individual
income tax rate to the current flat
tax we have not assumed any further
impacts into the model about any
legislation that could further reduce
either income tax sales tax or any other
Revenue stream that the city
receives Amber can we pause for a second
councilwoman pestor has a question yes
my question is on 19 on 10 right right
when you get through
this on the general f finish this slide
okay so what I was going to discuss on
this slide is talking about our general
fund revenues and the major categories I
also want to highlight the areas that
right now it's within the council's
authority to influence Revenue in order
to generate more resources to solve any
type of projected structural budget Gap
so for local sales and excise tax that
does make up our largest revenue
category at
40% State shared revenue is 37% of our
general fund revenues that is not an
area that the council can look to
influence that is set by state
law primary property taxes make up about
12% of our Revenue we already maximize
primary property tax levy we're also
limited by the state constit tion for a
2% Levy limit over the prior year plus
new
construction user fees and other make up
about 11% this is generated from the
Departments for the activities they
charge directly to Residents who use
their service but primarily it's our
ambulance billing from the fire
department those rates are set by State
Department health services and driven by
transports also this category includes
interest earnings which is not something
that the councelor can
influence councilwoman Pastor did you
have a question yeah my local my
question is the local sales and excise
tax could you please explain that to me
absolutely thank you for the question so
local sales and excise taxes is made up
of our transaction privilege tax and Ed
taxes primarily it's sales
tax thank you you're
welcome so for 2526 our general fund
Revenue estimates by Major category this
provides the estimate for next year
dollar value as well as the
year-over-year growth rates for local
sales and excise taxes it's estimated to
be 724 million next fiscal year growth
of just 7% that growth is somewhat muted
because of the elimination of
residential rental a full year impact
next fiscal year our state shared
revenues are estimated at 682 million
negative growth year-over-year of
1.2% this is primarily due to the
state's decision to lower that
individual income tax rate to the flat
tax primary property taxes estimated to
be 224 million positive growth 4.1%
year-over-year it is growing because it
increases in assessed value the primary
property tax rate is actually lower
today than it was in fiscal 17 by7 so
the rate's not increasing assessed
values are going up user fees and other
estimated to be 193 million it's
negative growth of 1.3% estimated next
year that's primarily due be we do
anticipate interest earnings as interest
rates come down we won't earn the same
high level of interest in that Revenue
category so overall our total general
fund Revenue estimate for next school
year is 1 Bill 823 million basically
flat growth at
0.2% I wanted to provide some historical
information about our year-over-year
growth rates in our general fund to
demonstrate going back to fiscal 17 our
revenues have grown particularly during
the pandemic we saw a big increase we
had a lot of consumers shifting their
buying from things we don't tax to
things that we do as well as a lot of
federal stimulus that was do out into
the economy that helps the consumer so
you see in fiscal 2324 on the chart
year-over-year growth last year of
12.6% unfortunately negative growth
anticipated in the current year of
negative4 a. half% I've had to lower our
budgeted Revenue because the first six
months of the this fiscal year we are
starting to see Revenue slow I lowered
that growth from Nega 3.2% to
4.5% again next fiscal year basically
flat Revenue growth at
0.2 I want to spend a minute talking
about about our state shared income tax
revenues this is allocated 100% to our
general fund it's based on collections
from two years prior we do rely on the
state joint legislative budget committee
to do these estimates we don't collect
an income tax they have the data we rely
on them for the outer year
forecasts Cate Bill 1828 as we've said
lowered the individual income tax rate
this was a progressive for tax bracket
structure lowering it down to 2.5%
effective in 2022 signed by for former
Governor Ducey and the jlbc in a recent
uh report and I quote collections
dropped for the state 2.7 billion
between fiscal 22 and fiscal 24 as the
2.5% rate was
implemented this bar chart shows actual
collections for State shared income tax
to the city last fiscal year you see
collections were 436 million we're going
to be seeing a significant drop we know
this amount again based on collections
from two years prior 19% year over year
decline in fiscal 2425 down to 351
million fiscal 20 o sorry fiscal 2526
another decline 7% to 328 million before
we are anticipating that this Revenue
stream would start to increase again
this does not take into account any type
of legislative action that would further
try to reduce individual or corporate
income tax
rates residential rental sales tax
estimated loss on this screen this
should look familiar I've been providing
this information to the council for some
time this shows anticipated impacts not
just to our general fund but to our
voter approved special Revenue funds the
estimated impact to our general fund in
the current year again this is a partial
year impact it was effective in January
19.3 million to our general fund all
funds 37 million in the current year
next fiscal year the first year annual
impact $ 47.4 million loss in Revenue to
our general fund 90.7 million to all
funds as we move through the forecast
Horizon through fiscal 20 8 we're going
to we expect to see a reduction of over
$320 million loss in Revenue to the city
as a result of that one legislative
action so general fund expenditure some
of the major assumptions we've included
in our Baseline model it is based on
employee compensation on current Council
adopted contracts and estimated costs
for the class and comp study that the
council approved fiscal year 2526 and
Beyond are subject to Future labor
negotiations
the class in comp and negotiated lab
increases why a necessary investment for
our employees they are significant over
a period of three fiscal years from
fiscal 25 to fiscal 27 based on a
snapshot it's roughly $590 million
increase just to the general fund those
increases also impact All City
funds all other operating expenses in
our general fund are based on our
historical growth as well as CPI
inflation other assumptions for our
expenditures we estimate pensions
separately as I'll show momentarily
because it places an extreme burden on
the general fund to meet those
commitments we use information from the
actuaries for both Public Safety and our
civilian coper system to do those
estimations we do have amounts built
into the forecast for pay as you go this
is cash outlay to the general fund for
things like major facility maintenance
as well as it Investments we are
assuming the use of an excise tax
proceed uh strategy to relieve some
upfront cash burden from the general
fund this spreads out the cost of
significant Capital Investments that
have long useful lives over a number of
years majority of these excise tax
proceeds would be used for public sa
safety specifically
fire we also are growing our contingency
fund or our rainy day fund it's growing
but remains at 4.75% of operating
expenditures we are trying to get it to
the council's goal of 5% we're just not
there yet particularly because we are
anticipating a budget shortfall we're
not growing that percent to 5% in the
forecast
period so I wanted to spend a minute
just showing inflation I know that
everyone is aware inflation has been a
burden both to businesses governments
and residents alike but going back to
2015 you can see inflation this is
according to the US Bureau of Labor
Statistics for Phoenix Mesa Scottdale
was as low as 0.2% in 2015 really peaked
in 2022 at 11 half% inflation moderating
coming down again we have increased
costs however the price year
particularly since the pandemic um we
don't have deflation so as of 2024 was
estimated at
2.2% general fund expenditure growth is
similar to inflation this chart shows
going back to fiscal 19 the city of
Phoenix's expenditure growth in the
general fund peaking in 20 23 24 at
13.6% is starting to come down estimated
at 5.8 in the current year and 6.3% next
fiscal
year so pension this chart should look
familiar the green bars represent the
civilian coper system pension costs the
red bars represent the fire pension
expense and blue bars represent police
this demonstrates going back to fiscal
year 20 the commitment from the general
fund for pension was 300 million during
that time it is now growing through the
forast period over $500 million by the
time we get to fiscal 28 representing
25% of our operating expenditures a 63
million increase from fiscal 25 to
fiscal
28 so this brings brings me to our 2526
preliminary general fund budget status
and the Baseline forecast I want to walk
through briefly remind Council that last
year at this time I presented that
forecast and we had an anticipated $80
million one-time Surplus that the
council wisely chose unanimously to set
that aside upon our city manager's
recommendation because we knew we had a
structural budget problem last year 26
it was estimated we could have deficits
any ranging anywhere from 103 million to
66 million and in fiscal 27 a deficit of
53 million to a potential surplus of 19
million but a baseline forecast last
year was presented $92 million deficit
in 26 and another $31 million deficit in
27 so now that I've estimated our
resources for next year at 2 b38 million
and our estimated expenditures at 2 b74
million we have an updated status for
2526 reflecting a deficit of 36 million
again this does account the 80 million
that Council chose last year to set
aside we have to make sure our ongoing
resources equal our ongoing expenditures
if not we'll continue to have structural
imbalances my team is underway working
with departments to do a 7 plus5
technical review on all expenditures and
revenues so these estimates may change
if we do make adjustments to the general
fund status I will bring those back to
the council March 18th with the trial
budget so for the general fund Baseline
multi-year forecast I build in the
updated status as you can see that $36
million deficit reflected we then use a
pessimistic and optimistic range on
resources and expenditures the further I
get out in the forecast Horizon the less
certain we become of our estimates so we
always use a range you can see projected
deficits anywhere from 102 million to 64
million in
2627 another deficit potentially 41
million to a potential surplus of 29
million in fiscal 28 base line forecast
36 million next year another deficit of
83 million in 27 and another deficit of
60 M 6 million in fiscal
28 some of the things that Council
should take into consideration as you
move forward with budget decisions we
know that we have to provide additional
resources to our fire department in
order to bring down response times we
also know the American Rescue plan act
dollars are expiring that have been
strategically used to help with our
unsheltered population but to also
address the impact of homelessness on
our neighborhoods it's estimated that 5
million is going to be needed next
fiscal year and 26 million ongoing to
continue the good work that our office
of Homeless Solutions has been
doing we also need to ensure that we're
keeping Pace with salary and and
benefits for our employees we need to
ensure the class and comp study that the
council approved does not fall behind
that we have capacity in the budget
going forward to provide for future
labor negotiations this is so that we
can remain Market competitive and
attract and retain a quality
Workforce other budget considerations
voters thankfully approved the 2023
General obligation Bond program comes
with a lot of exciting projects that'll
be coming online in the next few years
like fire stations Parks libraries
Regional pools splash pads Street
improvements however with the general
obligation Bond program also comes
increased operating costs we have
factored those estimates into the
general fund forecast but we want to
ensure going forward that the city
council has capacity or the budget has
capacity to do future geop programs as
we move ahead we know as I mentioned
general fund revenues are slowing so
I've had to lower those Revenue
projections there's always a risk that
revenues could continue to slow and I
would have to update estimates next
fiscal year as well that would put
additional pressure on fiscal 26 27 and
out years and last but certainly not
least our community our residents they
don't want less Service as I've been
saying they don't want inferior service
they want more an exceptional service
and we have to have the resources in the
budget in order to meet those
expectations so now that I've presented
not such good news about our budget
Outlook we do want to propose some
strategies for the council to consider
so that you can ensure we balance the
budget going forward but before I do
that I wanted to demonstrate the
significant growth that the city of
fenus has experienced since 1980
81 as you can see over that period of
time 40 plus years our popul population
has more than doubled we are now almost
at 1.7 million residents we are the
fifth largest city in the country and
growing our area or square miles that we
have to service is now at 520 miles
that's an expansive geographic area that
we have to provide service to our total
Street miles are at almost 5,000 that
need repair and maintenance our number
of building inspections is almost at
300,000 per year the number of parks and
libraries we have has grown requiring
increased operating costs
our calls for service for emergency
services for police and fire have
significantly increased over that time
while our total city employees today is
at roughly 16,000 we're still a thousand
lower than we were just before the Great
Recession and our per population one of
1,000 is actually lower today than it
was in 1980 at 5.6 our per capita or per
resident general fund operating
expenditures on an inflation adjusted
basis are only slightly higher today at
1,16 per resident and interestingly our
per capita general fund sales tax per
resident is actually lower today than it
was in 19881 at $410 per
resident so Council as you know on
January 15th we did post the required
notice for a potential transaction
privilege tax and use tax rate increase
that notice is available on the city's
main website as well as at phoenix.gov
budget
it is posting notice that the council
may consider on March 18th increasing
that rate from 2. 2.3% up to 2.8%
effective July
1st this would help to offset the
ongoing Revenue loss from State actions
it would also provide the necessary
resources for additions to the budget as
I've discussed for fire and homelessness
but also ensure we have capacity going
forward to protect our current levels of
service to our
residents I did also want to take a
minute I was asked about this and I
think it's important for the council to
understand there are certain things that
the state restricts you from being able
to tax such as the luxury tax this is
per Arizona revised Statute
42-32 that includes taxing things such
as liquor tobacco cigarettes the
transaction privilege tax per ARS 42-6
Z4 were prevented from taxing sports
events sponsored by nonprofit
organizations things like sales of
warranty and service contracts and
internet access were prevented from
taxing natural gas and LPG as well as
internet-based audio and video services
and just recently by state action
residential
rentals also we're prohibited by Arizona
Constitution Article 9 section 25 from
taxing Services these are things like
Child Care financial and legal services
doctor and medical visits home repair
hair and salon services and cleaning and
Landscaping just to name a few as well
as there's being considered to go go to
the voters in November 2026 to eliminate
the option for cities and towns to do a
food tax the City of Phoenix does not
currently have a food tax were among a
handful of cities that don't many cities
and towns in Arizona however they do and
they rely on that Revenue stream to
provide their programs and
services If This Were to pass by the
voters this would be another category of
Revenue that future council could not
consider as an option to balance the
budget I now want to provide a history
of our TP or transaction privilege tax
and use tax rate a history our city
manager did indicate that for the
general fund 1.2% is the current rate
that is allocated to our general fund
it's been this since 1986 so while the
TPT rate has increased over this period
of time most recent approved increase by
voters in January of 2016 it's been for
specific purposes the general fund has
not shared in those increases current
rate being
2.3% those rate increases have been
specific for transportation Public
Safety and parks and preserves I also
wanted to provide how does the City of
Phoenix compare to our surrounding
cities for our base rate in our largest
category which is retail so as you can
see on the bar chart the City of Phoenix
at 2.3% is lower than six surrounding
cities if the council were to elect to
increase that rate to 2.8 we would be on
par with the city of surprise and just
below Glendale and
Buckey this chart also o provides to the
council and to Residents what does that
mean if the city council were to
increase the TPT and use tax rate from
2.3 to 2.8 on a taxable transaction
valued at $10 $100 or $1,000 the
incremental dollar increase on that
transaction would be 5 cents 50 cents or
$5 so now the proposed multi-year
forecast with strategies include assumes
a TPT increase of 2.8% of effect of July
1st use of the excise Tech proceed
strategy specifically those proceeds
this would be coming to council by the
way on April 9th for consideration would
help to build two additional fire
stations as well as purchase additional
Medical Response units additional
apparatus to strategically place around
the city where the highest call volumes
are all with the goal of lowering
response time it also does assume that
we would be setting aside in fiscal 26
and fiscal 27 92 and 34 million
respectively this is to allow us to grow
into those expenditures make sure we're
not spending all of that Revenue all
upfront similar to what the council did
in the current
budget also our city manager committed
to not only increasing Revenue to solve
a budget shortfall but to evaluate the
current budget work with City
departments rep prioritize our spending
and come up with reductions totaling 24
million more information about those
cuts will be included in the packet for
the trial Budget on March 18th but I can
tell you it does not propose to
eliminate any filled positions roughly
18.2 vacant positions it's mostly a
nonpersonal services for a variety of
contractuals Commodities minor Capital
outlay very limit limited impact to
Service
delivery 2526 trial budget supplementals
you're going to see the request for
additions to the budget we know we need
them for the fire department 32
positions right now sworn personnel that
are funded by a safer Grant that is
expiring those positions will have to
move to the general fund so we're not
lowering Fire's hiring Target that would
not help us achieve reducing response
times estimated impact next year is 3
million ongoing impact is 5 million to
the general fund also for the go Bond
program Phoenix Fire Station 15 at 43rd
in Camelback it's going to open we need
to pre-hire and get the sworn personnel
and through the academy and ready to
operate that station estimated impact
next year to the budget is 2 million but
Ono it's a 4 million commitment increase
for the fire department for that station
for our office of Homeless Solutions for
homelessness as I mentioned the ARA
funds are expiring it's estimated by
that office that they're going to need
an additional $5 million next fiscal
year but 26 million ongoing investment
commitment going forward out of the
general fund starting in fiscal
2627 the proposed strategy with the TPT
increase would also provide net new $25
million to the fire department this
again in an effort to reduce response
times this would provide over 100
additional swarm Personnel a handful of
Civilian positions again more details be
concluded with our trial Budget on March
18th so with this proposed strategy what
would this do to the preliminary budget
status for next fiscal year as well as
to the outlook for the forecast period
it would take the deficit of 36 million
estimated for next year to a surplus of
19 million it would also put a surplus
for 26 27 ranging anywhere from 29
million to 68 million potential deficit
in 2728 of 37 million to a potential
surplus of 37 million with a baseline
forecast for next year of 19 million a
potential Baseline forecast of 49
million in
2627 and a potential balance budget in
2728 the amount for 2627 is made up of
both onetime and ongoing expenditures it
also assumes that that 19 million
estimated for next fiscal year would be
one-time
funds so next steps in terms of budget
adoption March 18th we'll come back with
the trial budget council is going to be
um on the agenda to take action on a
potential TPT and use tax rate increase
at that meeting in April we'll do what
we always do we take the budget out to
the community when we want to hear from
the residents we're going to be holding
12 budget hearings from April 1st to
April 16th and then in May on May 6th
we'll present the city manager's budget
and the council will make budget
decisions on May 20th that's a very
critical date as I've told the council
in the past without that we cannot do
our legal budget process which is on
June 4th scheduled for tenative budget
adoption June 18th for final budget
adoption and then we wrap up the process
on July 2nd with property tax levy
adoption and that concludes my
presentation and we can answer any
questions thank you council
members councilman gindo Alva followed
by councilwoman guado
Amber thanks thanks for your very
comprehensive uh presentation I know
from the very beginning of this process
you said that you would be telling us a
story and revealing the ins and outs of
the budget and the Val the Peaks and
valleys and you've told tonight a very
important story for us to consider in
terms of what is coming and what the
forecast looks like um one of the areas
that I am particularly happy about is
the use of um of the dollars to support
our fire department sorry I'm going
through all the pages um particularly
with um The Filling of those 32
positions that would have the safer
Grant expiring and of course the fire
station number 15 which will be in my
colleagues District 5 um and what's
important about that is that that
station is not just a fire station it is
one that has built in and force thought
of the health and well-being of our
firefighters to protect them and um
cancer prevention so that's an important
caveat for this that it's not just
another building it's one that is safer
and better for our
firefighters I also um applaud the fact
that you've uh included in there um
homelessness for the office of Homeless
Solutions we know that is an ongoing
issue it is one that is complex it is
messy and it is hard heartbreaking and
for all intents and purposes it is a
city of Phoenix who is taking this issue
headon and really taking the brunt uh of
of what's going on with other cities not
um stepping up to the plate in the way
that we have
done uh I support the transaction
privilege tax um because it doesn't
enrich our coffers it what it does is it
maintains a level of service that we
have promised to our residents and that
it helps the City of Phoenix fill those
gaps and so I think that what you've
done here is really answered all of my
questions not just tonight but the
ongoing briefings that you and Jeff have
done with me um and that those are my
comments so far thank you mayor thank
you councilwoman Gord thank you mayor so
I just have um couple questions one um
when will we see the list of the cuts of
the potential Cuts mayor mayor members
of the council um we will be presenting
that as part of the city manager trial
Budget on March 18th so you'll receive
those the week before that that we
present that okay I think like for me
that's critical um for residents to be
able to understand that I think in the
last five years um we've grown as a city
and I think we've grown our services I
think there's a lot of um great programs
that we've started and The Last 5 Years
that are critical um to making sure that
we continue to support um especially um
working class families and give more
support um to our fire department and
making sure that we continue to cut our
response time so I think it's important
um that as soon as we can get that that
be important for people to be able to
see what is it that we're looking at and
from what you said um we're trying to
not Impact Services that we do for for
workingclass communities mayor members
of the council councilwoman guardado as
as as someone who lived through the the
reductions of 2007 2008 and and
understanding what that did not just to
our employees but also to our community
you you have my commitment that what
we're proposing to cut will not impact
or impair Services we are really
focusing on trying to control and
minimize growth in departments so that's
why you'll see this list will be heavy
on contractual and commodity spending um
we also did a very deep dive and we're
extremely aggressive on our vacancy
savings so that's why you don't really
have a lot of vacancies left for us to
cut that actually reduce the footprint
of the budget because we're already
aggressively counting uh the vacancy
savings for many of our vacancies
already great and I know that we've um
talked a lot about the class in comp
study um and I remember when I first um
came on to conso in 2019 one of the
biggest conversations we talked about
was turnover and turnover and turnover
and turnover um how much have we reduce
that since we did the class in comp
study I I'll let Amber kind of go into
the details on that but what I will tell
you is the the actions that the council
took as a body from a class and comp
perspective and making sure that we're
adequately compensating our residents
it's had a very significant impact on
our vacancy rate so Ember you want to
talk about where we are today versus
where we absolutely yes thank you for
the question councilman goodard mayor
members of the council so as it stands
right now we have just about a little
over 600 general fund vacancies um it
brings us to about a rate of
11.7% that's down from about 177% so I
can tell you uh the class and comp study
the negotiated labor increases along
with and I have to mention the efforts
by human resources under director David
Matthews have been significant we've
done a really great job in hiring people
faster and offering them a higher wage
um I just want to mention with that it's
very important because it does present a
significant cost not just to the general
fund but to all funds so that TPT
increase is providing not only to
continue the class and comp and to
provide for future labor negotiations
but to make sure that we don't fall
behind in that structure it's very
important that we have that capacity
going forward so thank you for that
question great thank you for that answer
and then also um how much of our oura
dollars did we use to maybe subsidize
our our
budget mayor members of the council if
you recall we received from the federal
government roughly $396 million and you
have been very um aggressive in terms of
spending that money um we've been doing
ever since the last over the last two
years we've been doing um reallocations
of unspent money we did our last
reallocation last year um and so all of
those funds are estimated to be spent by
the end of next fiscal year and how much
is that uh we had if I remember off the
top of my head we had a little over
hundred million left but all of that
fund all those funds are committed to
ongoing programs and services and once
that money goes away what's our deficit
so that that money again is as you will
see in the presentation that Amber did
as well as the trial budget many of the
things that the council did with that
money were one time in nature with the
exception of the ongoing expense of the
office of Homeless Solutions as well as
you know adding those additional beds
for our unsheltered population and
that's the $ 25 million number that
we've now perpetuated as part of a
supplemental request for the council for
next fiscal year great well I just want
to thank you guys so much for all of
your hard work and trying to keep us in
in a in a good place I mean I you know
the bond program was great I think being
able um to get that passed and I think
it it passed
with with a lot of a lot of our
community leaders saying yes we need
more bonds um and we had a lot of people
that said that they need more and I
understand that in order for us to
continue to do more and for us to be
able to continue the services and
continue to provide um everything that
our residents want um this tax increase
is crucial um to be able to past in
order for us to continue to flourish I
take a lot of Pride um to say that the
City of Phoenix um does a lot more for
residents um than a lot of the other
cities I know that for me um the issue
with homelessness is is a huge issue for
me in my district and it's very um
disheartening to see a lot of the
neighboring cities do nothing um and I
know that for us it's important not to
see what other cities are doing but what
is it that we can do to continue to
thrive so um thank you guys for
continuing to listening um to us and all
of our requests and everything that we
need to try to continue make sure that
this Contin the city continues to move
forward so I you know in the future will
be supportive of this so thank you so
much Amber thank you Jeff thank you team
thank you guys for everything you guys
are
doing thank you Council H Washington
thank you mayor um I too want to thank
the budget and research department for
all of your hard work and develop in
this forecast um while no one wants to
see a deficit having a clear picture of
our financial standin does allow us to
make informed decisions of our for our
City's future so thank you for all the
hard work in this um I have a few
questions I would like to make sure that
we clarify on the record some for the
edification of our our listeners as well
um I want to go to slide 35 where you
talk about the TPT uh increases that
have have happened over the years
they
are the TPT rate history slide
35 you you you made a uh you explained
very clearly that we have not increased
our TPT since
1986 um the actual goes to the general
fund can you explain to our listeners um
what if any Authority the city council
has or the budget department has to take
funds that are above that 1.2% and
allocate them somewhere else because I
think the answer is we have none
but thank you for the question
councilwoman Hajj Washington mayor
members of the council so the general
fund rate of 1.2% as I stated has been
the same since 1986 since that time it's
increased to the current 2.3% but each
time it increased it was taken to the
voters not that it's required to it's
within the city council's authority to
increase the TPT rate those council
members at that time elected to take it
to the voters but it was for a
restricted a certain purpose so when it
increased for example in 1993 it was for
Public Safety to 1.3 each year you can
see on the table increasing into the
current 2.3% in 2016 for transportation
so voters specifically approved those
increases for those purposes but prior
to that the general fund was the only
TPT rate at the 1.2% so each time
increased the general fund amount has
remained the same at 1.2 of the 2.3
correct and and and what what I heard
you say is that these were voter
directed priorities as to where the
difference above the
2.2 um I don't do that in public so I'll
do it anyway
1.1% has been allocated by our voters as
to where which line items these need to
go to correct yes councilwoman that's
correct and I think we are we should at
least respect our voters wishes if not
required to respect our voters wishes in
the those allocations correct yes that's
correct okay I also wanted to go to um
slide 31 because I thought this was a
very impressive number and I don't know
how many people understand the per Kappa
um per capita of U spending reverse
sales tax to say that we are spending
for each individual
$410 in 2024 2025 versus for in 2029 in
1980 19 81 shows that the City of
Phoenix runs an efficient ship we are
not um I'll let you app on it may mayor
members of the council I I think to give
you Kudos and the councils that come
before you I think what this speaks to
is the council's ability to be very
strategic and Nimble with uh dwindling
resource but while you're also expanding
services to a grow a rapidly growing
city so I think the Kudos here goes a
lot to Mayor and Council for doing the
best that they could with the money they
had available and this this metric
illustrates that very clearly that was
my takeaway as well I think the metric
was very um and I didn't want us to
gloss over that effect I also wanted to
stress the fact that the reason that we
are here in this situation is not
because of Any actions that have been
necessarily taken by this by us as a
city council or our city staff it is
primarily due to I call a trifecta of of
circumstances it is what we have seen
with State action what we have seen with
inflation and what we have seen as an
increase for demand of the quality
services that we provide
so while um no one likes to talk about
potential increase in our our taxes I we
have to re we have to recognize where we
stand um I'm going to also be I'm going
to be a Debbie Downer for a second what
happens if we are if we do not make the
decision to increase our um TPT and I
know Amber absolutely hates when I ask
this question but I do it anyways you
want me to take it you go ahead okay go
all right thank you councilwoman H
Washington mayor members of the council
so if the the council were to elect to
not increase Revenue to solve the budget
shortfall then you would really be
looking at reducing programs and service
or cutting our costs I don't want to
simplify it but that's it I mean either
we increase our resources to to solve a
budget shortfall or we decrease our
expenses so we would be looking at more
ongoing budget reductions than what's
been proposed by our city manager of
that 24 million um we would have to be
coming to the council with with a bigger
list of cuts essentially to balance the
budget and when we talk about balance I
I know we talk about you mentioned it in
terms of programs but I also want us to
consider it it's not just programs it's
the Personnel here at city that execute
those programs would be on the um
ideally would be part of our reduction
plan correct yes councilwoman Hajj
Washington mayor and members of the
council that's correct as Jeff indicated
before we have pushed our vacancy
savings um to a point that I really
can't take vacant positions to solve a a
structural budet issue so if we were to
look to go to further Cuts we're really
at that point looking at filled
positions and then we're looking at real
impacts to Service delivery these are
things that would cross multiple
departments including Public Safety
potentially and our non-public safety
departments thank you um I just want to
say I appreciate all of the effort that
went into identifying the funding gaps
and identifying potential solutions for
us and I look forward to working with my
colleagues and you to ensure that
whatever path we take prioritizes is our
residents um our residents needs I truly
um response time is something that we
hear tremendously a lot about and I
appreciate that fact that that was
incorporated into the into the forecast
um one more question for clarification
the forecast has presented provides for
the full um as proposed
2.8% um TPT
correct yes Council and mayor members of
the council that's correct it is a
recommendation to do the 2.8 so the full
.5% TPT increase that's to protect our
current level of programs and services
and provide the capacity to add
additional resources for fire and
homelessness but also in the years to
come to accommodate things like another
Geo Bond program labor increases things
like that thank you the U Geo Bond as
you know we passed on a I think it was
75 to 60% when you consider all of the
Geo Bond questions that were presented
to our voters I think that shows to us
that our voters do prioritize and and
and appreciate the services that we do
provide as a city so thank you for this
comprehensive document uh forecast and I
look forward to see in the next proposal
that identifies our residents needs
thank you so much mayor thank you uh
we'll go to councilwoman Stark and then
councilman
Robinson thank you uh mayor I appreciate
it I think that uh councilwoman hods
Washington said it so well this budget
is not really our doing this comes from
Attack
or rental tax that we relied on heavily
90 million and now we have to Pivot and
I think the most important thing we do
is provide Public Safety to our
residents and so I will be supportive
going onward to make sure that we
continue to do what we need to do and
that is to provide Public Safety I was a
a city employee when we went through the
Great Recession and I remember all the
sacrifices that City stff made to make
sure that we could continue to provide
good Services I remember employees
taking days off without pay sacrificing
some benefits and so I'd hate to see us
go back to that and so I want to move
forward and make sure that we have a
balanced budget but one that's
responsive to our constituents but also
supports our staff thank you
mayor thank you so much councilman
Robinson thank you mayor you know like
um councilwoman Stark I was a city
employee during 2007 and this the city
employees made those
sacrifices and it was a tough time for
everyone and I'm and as councilwoman
Hodge Wasington and councilwoman Stark
PO said this isn't of our doing we get
that and the question I have but first
before I get to my question might be
more of a statement Amber I want to
thank you and your staff because when I
when you guys break me when you bring me
up to speed on these things you really
help me to understand it in its totality
so I am really grateful for that it it
means a great deal it helps this process
and as I talk my constituents they
understand it and to cut to the chase
they are supportive of the folks I have
talked to are supportive of an increase
a tax increase so that having been said
I want us to go back just a little ways
and ask this question um the 2007 Public
Safety tax if I remember correctly and I
truly agreed with it then 80% of it went
to the police department 20% of it went
to the fire department I felt now I look
at it and I think it was a little
shortsighted it should have been a
little bit more even and we're paying
for that now with the fire department
and the long response times and such so
the question I have and it's more I
think of a philosophical thing and I
don't you know just you can app on it
just briefly if you want but is this
enough and if if it's not why not more
and you know obviously I'm talking to
tax increase do we have the system in
place to sustain it and I think that
would be the question but but thank you
mayor members of the council I'll start
with the answer to that question I I
think going back to 2007 which was the
proposition one uh tax that you're
referencing that fund added 400 police
officers and 100 firefighters um when
that fund was added um in my opinion
having had to be the person balancing
that fund when it went through the
deficit that it did that fund was never
adequately forecasted to sustain the
number of positions that were added to
that to those to those voter initiatives
and so for a long time the general fund
has actually been subsidizing um those
funds but you're right it was it was
imbalanced in terms of the ads for
police versus fire um even when it was
added police still had several hundred
vacancies and fire obviously never has
any because everybody wants to be a
firefighter um you know when you when
you talk about your your second part of
your question of is this enough I I
guess if you were to ask our fire Union
they would say enough is never enough
because there's always going to be a
demand for new or more firefighters to
help with response times I think what we
are limited by is the resources that we
have at our disposal and when you look
at what we presented to you today I
think we're trying to again do this in a
methodical fashion which is what we've
been doing and what you have been doing
as a council um you've got a bond
program that is going to add four fire
stations over the next five to seven
years you've also got with the proposal
that Amber and I are talking about
picking up another two fire stations in
this excise tax um you got station 74
and and auki that will also be added um
you know in the near future and then
we're also you know working on some
other items so I think right now with
what we're proposing it will have a
dramatic impact on response times I
think the initial impact that you'll see
the most dramatic impact will be firstly
in the first due area where those fire
stations are being added um and then as
you build out you get additional um
response time increases or or decreases
as as that St as those stations in the
apparatus that we're adding start to
overall response times
decrease okay and thank you for that
it's great clarification but what I also
want to add we had a tragedy in district
6 a couple weeks ago a fire death over
in the Arcadia area and as I understand
it and this is why we need to add
obviously to the fire Services we need
to reduce response times and as I
understanded the closest fire station
was out on another
call and their response time probably
would have been probably less five
minutes or less from what I understand
the the proximity to the the location of
the fire and the tragedy but it was
another station was rolling from a a
further distance and we had a tragedy
there and I'm not saying it's because of
that but it is very clear that we have
to look as far ahead as we possibly can
do as much as we possibly can to ensure
that fire service is adequately staffed
we have the um the the equipment in the
right locations and in my subcommittee
and the public safety and Justice
subcommittee we hear about it with
regularity about the response time and
and it's a Herculean task on the part of
the fire department they're doing
everything they can but I if there's any
way possible for us to do more I am all
in favor of that and obviously it would
have to take further discussion on the
part of um the mayor and my colleagues
but I just wanted to bring that issue up
and thank you guys again the information
you provide the Insight
the they just everything that you do is
very it's better than it ever has been
before for those of us who have been
around for a while know that we took
shortcuts thinking it wouldn't catch up
to us well guess what it's caught up to
us so with that mayor thank you for the
time Jeff Amber everybody thank you very
much thank you we will go to councilman
O'Brien and public
comment thank you mayor and um thank you
Jeff and Amber and and Kathleen and and
all the staff that have been working on
the budgets um I'm going to go back
to your comment just now Jeff about the
additional stations that we're going to
be getting um does this budget include
the Staffing for those stations now or
will that budget be coming will those
numbers be added in future budgets uh
councilwoman O'Brien mayor members of
the council good question and I I think
it's I have to kind of preface this with
it it's all included but what what I
want to say is what we presented today
is adding two additional fire stations
using excise tax bonds that would be
station and St uh district one and
District Two and the ongoing operating
expense of those two stations is
approximately $10 million for the staff
that would staff it um additionally
we're talking about adding about $40
million worth of apparatus to the fire
department um um over the next two years
using using those excise tax proceeds
they're also adding additional response
units and apparatus to drive down
response times which would be like
roving units that would go to areas of
greatest need and they're also looking
to add additional apparatus to stations
that can handle additional apparatus
while at the same time using those to
drive down response times what what
Amber is also forecasting in her
multi-year forecast though are the
ongoing on andm costs associated with
those on these upcoming Bond funded fire
stations that voters approved as well so
but I want to understand the apparatus
and those costs are coming out of the
excise tax the actual yes the actual
Capital expenses come out of the excise
you cannot pay you can't use excise
taxes to pay ongoing o andm for people
and so if you add it all up when you
look at what fire would be getting out
of what we're talking about proposing in
the trial budget fire is getting the $9
million which are which includes the
money to transition to 32 stayer
positions to the general fund also the
staff that's needed for Station 15 an
ongoing operating expense for $25
million worth of additional staff which
is roughly 130 positions and then
they're getting roughly 76% or 114
million of the 150 million excise bond
that we'll be bringing back to you in in
April that ongoing on andm to service
that debt is roughly $9 million a year
so if you were to add all of that up
fire is getting roughly $43 million
which is almost equivalent to 2/10 of a
percent of a sales tax and there are
those $43 million they're going to be
ongo those are ongoing that is ongoing
expense not from the excise ta the $9
million of the excise tax is on is the
portion that would drop off in the
future but that's not until after that
debt is completely to paid off okay and
and as um councilman Robinson talked
about right we and as did councilwoman
Hajj Washington we talk a lot about
response times for fire and I know you
said they would this would in decrease
them has fire department run the numbers
to look at how that this would be
decreased and do we know those numbers
yes um again I I'll bring fire up to the
table in case they need to clarify
anything that I say because I I'm only
pretending to be a firefighter right now
well that could be fun little bit
different the the actual from what I
understand the Emergency Medical Service
response times this is kind of broken
down into phase one phase two because
you're not going to add all of this at
once you know this will come on over
time yep phase one EMS response time as
of based on 2024 Data before we added
anything is roughly 8 minutes and 36
seconds once we add what we're talking
about adding in phase one that response
time drops to 4 minutes and 31 seconds
the actual again correct me if I'm wrong
Chief certificate of necessity which is
our ambo response currently based on
2024 data is 10 minutes and 44 seconds
in phase one that would drop to 4
minutes and 51 seconds and then when you
get to phase two and add the additional
those response times drop again it's not
as significant but it goes from 8:30 to
4:25 for the EMS and 10:40 42 to 444 for
the ambo and so those that is the first
due we're still working on trying to
clarify what that looks like systemwide
impact but that is basically cutting
those response times almost in half okay
thank
Chief did you have did you want to add
anything no I think Jeff pretty much
covered all of it he knows us very well
thank you okay and then I just want to
clarify that th these
these numbers are based on off of our
2024 response times how does it
incorporate like the growth right in in
district one we're looking at and I
realize it'll be over time also but in 5
to 10 years we could have 16,000 new
doors or the equivalent of half a
Flagstaff um up in my district so how
does that impact it and and councilwoman
O'Brien I I'll answer first and then
I'll turn it over to the Chief and and
chief Christ you also have to remember
that for district one in particular
there are two additional fire stations
that are also coming online with the
bond program station 70 and Station 51
so some of that growth will be mitigated
by those additional stations coming
online but as well as some of these
additional apparatus that we're talking
about adding and and chief CH and chief
Don I don't know what else you'd like to
add to that y That's exactly correct so
mayor's members of the council
councilwoman O'Brien or vice mayor
excuse me uh yes we are looking at again
growth uh call VA volume response times
is what we look at in totality there uh
obviously for that area that you're
talking about is is uh city manager Jeff
Bart mentioned is there's U not only
about three stations that we're looking
at just specifically to that area
because we know that the demand for call
volume uh with those units and current
fire stations right now you're seeing
about call volumes running about 5,000
calls at station 33 which is on Cactus
and i7 or station 42 at Greenway where
you knows very well and so those
stations are very busy so these will
definitely have an impact not only just
on the response times and the
availability of those resources to be in
service because it's a high call volume
area itself um so that is we do look at
a 20-year forecast for fire stations
across the city of Phoenix right now
again looking at growth looking at call
volume looking at response times uh and
other factors that we look at
Geographics as well to determine where
those locations and that is a very fluid
process Chief crisis is our being the
person who's looking at our strategic
planning of those stations uh and the
team is looking at that constantly for
us right now and that could change
within one to two years just depending
upon where we see growth happening in
call volume again we talk about
certificate of need in our response
times for ambulances that is always
something that we look at on a monthly
basis to make sure that we are because
we are regulated by Department of Health
Services we have to maintain that
response time as well okay and and I
appreciate all of that information and I
just want to um I don't know if it's
possible to have the numbers or if you
will have the evaluation done for what
it will have what kind of impact it will
have on the system as a as a whole I
certainly those numbers relative to to
district one and District Two as my
neighbor um would love to see those
individualized as we get them in in psj
so um we have made great strides since I
first came on Council for the fire
department I just want to make sure we
continue on that positive forward motion
and I thank you all for all the work
that's happening in there um I have a
couple of more other questions not
related to fire so thank you very much
um the I want to go reference back to uh
a slide that councilwoman hjge
Washington was on 31 uh I think the
other important statistic from there
that we want to highlight is that um we
are the number of employees per thousand
people population is a third less than
it was um in 198 1881 so to say that we
are um doing more with less uh that
really says it all and we're doing
fairly well I think so I wanted to make
sure we highlighted that
um councilwoman Stark brought up having
gone through the Great Recession and I
am going to ask what what did the
council do at then during the Great
Recession to help balance its budget so
mayor members of the council Amber
chirpin if your memory is better than
mine um at that time we had roughly a
$270 plus million doll deficit um at
that time we did a combination of things
we cut we we made some significant Cuts
as employees we also took uh
compensation cuts and we did Furlow days
um it took three to four years to get
those compensation Cuts back to
employees on top of that this Council
elected to in Institute a temporary food
tax that so it was a it was a
combination of an approach to balance
the budget in those years so those
councils had some flexibility with what
they were able to do and and used as I'm
going as saying I often use multiple
tools in the toolbox to to help achieve
that balanced budget because right they
um and I want to again highlight the
legislation that you while we don't have
a food tax now I I know that our
neighboring cities do but the
legislature is again removing a tool out
of or looks like they will be removing a
tool out of the toolbox uh for cities
and towns to work on their
budgets um I'm going to also Echo
something else that was said earlier and
when some of my residents um got to hear
from Amber last month uh one of their
questions was is this enough um if we're
going to do it is it enough and to make
sure that we are not cutting services um
I want to talk about our vacancies right
because we talked we did the class in
comp we've increased um pay and you said
was it about 17 or 18% was our vacancy
rate before yes thank you vice mayor
mayor members of the council right so
before class and comp the vacancy rate
was hovering right around 17% since
we've done class in comp and done the
labor negotiated increases that vacancy
rates come down to about 11.7% for our
civilians um so it's clearly making an
impact um overall I think to our hiring
into allowing employees to retain and
and stay with the city and I I don't
know who might want to address this but
what does that do for the efficiency and
savings to the city when our vacancy
rate is
reduced vice mayor mayor members of the
council um it fills positions which is a
good thing because we want to make sure
we can deliver programs and services to
the community by having our positions
filled but I I'll just go back over kind
of the vacancy savings topic and Jeff
kind of touched on this but what we've
tried to do in the last few years in the
budget is we've accounted for that
Savings in the adopted budget we work
with departments every year at our
technical review process we program an
amount of vacancy savings into their
direct operating budgets to reflect the
fact that they're not going to have all
of their positions filled all throughout
the year so we want to properly project
expenses as accurately as we can so we
build that vacancy Savings in I also
have been putting into the budget a
vacancy savings amount in a
non-departmental fund essentially to
account for the fact that we achieve a
higher level of vacancy savings than
what our Department's program because of
class en comp because of labor
negotiated increases in the good work as
I mentioned of our human resources
department to try to advertise and
Market the city as an employer that
absorption rates worked our net
vacancies um we're we're making progress
in filling positions so almost to the
point where I told jefff I'm a little
nervous because um if I have to reduce
that vacancy savings plug that increases
expenses so um we've done a great job
we're lowering the vacancy rates I don't
think it's quite to the to the amount
that David our HR Director would like
but um it certainly we accounted for the
savings we're making progress and it's
very important that we keep up with that
in terms of our class and comp and our
in our pay structure thank you you're
welcome um you also talked about our
state shared income tax revenue and you
try to project out what that will be um
currently there is a bill at the
legislature that would reduce the state
income tax from 2 and a half% to 2% I
see a lot of heads Shake nodding yes so
I am not misinformed about that does
your projection for for fiscal year 27
or fiscal year 28 take into account
another um a half of a percent loss in
because it will impact our state shared
Revenue correct that's correct vice
mayor thank you for the question no I
don't put into the model proposed
legislation we account for in the model
actual law so if the legislature were to
and the governor were to sign it to
further lower either individual income
tax rates which is a bill that was
submitted going from 2 and a half% to 2%
or corporate income tax rates taking
those from 5 a half% I think to 2% that
would have a significant impact on state
shared income tax revenues um in the
millions of dollars in the out years
because again it's based on two years
prior um I think right now and I don't
want to speak for our government
relations director but those particular
those two bills don't appear to be
moving but it doesn't mean a future
legislative session or they couldn't
come back so it's something we watch
very closely but I'm not building into
the forecast any assumed impact from
that directly because it's not law
okay and I I appreciate that just want
to make sure we all know what's up
potentially on on the horizon um and in
another presentation Amber you talked
about this um potential the TPT increase
in terms of how it would when you came
to visit my community how it would
impact the average person and I think
that it's important to share that if a
family of four were to go out the
increase would be less than a quarter um
if you drank coffee I don't but I guess
if I drank tea maybe my tea would only
go up about a penny I'm not sure though
where you get a cup of coffee for
$2.15 so maybe it'll go up a few more
pennies but that is important in showing
how this might affect the average day
the average person and so again I can't
thank you all enough for um all the hard
work you've done to dig us out of a hole
that is not of our own creating um and
so again thank you mayor thank you we'll
have more Council comments and questions
after public comment we'll begin with
Mari followed by
Jason good afternoon mayor and city
council my name is mar yepez and I'm a
lead organizer with Unite Here Local 11
which represents thousands of workers
across Arizona in hotels airports
University campuses and event venues I'm
also a single mother of two small
children and I live in District 4 I am
here today to speak in favor of the
proposed city tax increase my son
Sebastian is 5 years old and is part of
a city sponsored soccer team that he
loves it's an opportunity for him to
socialize with his peers to get his
energy out and learn discipline and
teamwork and as a single income it truly
is one way I can afford for him to
participate in quality team sports at
this age
it is only possible because of the
public city service at the Phoenix that
Phoenix provides with parks and wrecks
as an organizer with Unite Here Local 11
I can share that many of our members
also use Phoenix Services right now our
Industries are very busy due to spring
training and the
city um and aren't able to share their
own testimony but I will Yolanda
hernandz is a hotel laundry attendant
and uh she was able to keep her home
during the pandemic when most hotel
workers were suspended because of the
Phoenix mortgage Mortgage Assistance
dozens of airport workers have peace of
mind that their children are safe and
taken care of while while they work
thanks to the Phoenix Airport daycare
program these Services enable
hardworking Phoenix residents to stay
housed leave leave lead full lives and
have access affordable quality daycare
please vote Yes on the proposed city tax
increase thank you thank you Jason is
next Follow by
Andrea mayor council nice to be here
thank you for having us um I'm the
president of local 2384 I represent blue
collar employees uh in the city of
Phoenix
um today I stand before you to express
our Union's strong support for
increasing tax revenue through the
TPT um particularly in light of the loss
of of revenue from the state and and
potential more loss
um I also work in the water department
for the City of Phoenix um and we ensure
that that clean drinkable safe water
comes to every tap in the city of
Phoenix um and uh that's something that
I'm pretty proud of so I've been with
the city for almost 10 years
um Phoenix's Workforce is the foundation
of our City's success from maintaining
Safe Streets clean water and ensuring
Public Safety um and the uh Integrity of
our
infrastructure however with such
significant revenue losses the city is
now facing difficult choices that will
directly impact city services employee
wages and critical job
stability if we fail to secure
additional Revenue we risk employee
layoff service reduction
leading to longer response times for
residents and U it's not good um wage
stagnation making it harder to recuit
recruit and retain skilled workers um
which we already have a hard time doing
in today's uh in today's job
market deferring maintenance and
infrastructure will lead to failures in
that infrastructure um increasing
long-term costs while harming quality of
life for for our residents um on the
other hand increasing tax revenue we can
provide improv city jobs ensuring that
our employees can continue delivering
essential services in I didn't think it
was going to be two
minutes city employees are not just
workers we are taxpayers homeowners and
community members who deeply care about
Phoenix's future we urge the council to
take decisive action to ensure our city
has the res resources necessary to
support its Workforce sustain critical
services and to protect the well-being
of all phans thank you thank you Andrea
is next followed by
Timothy um mayor and councel my name is
adrea Ramirez thank you for allowing me
the opportunity to speak today as a
resident of Phoenix a teacher a mom and
an active member of my neighborhood
association I want to express my growing
concern regarding the city's need to
balance its budget I fear that many
vital programs that our community has
come to rely upon may be among the first
to face Cuts if we do not advocate for
them specifically I want to emphasize
the importance of the Phoenix phc after
school program this program is not just
beneficial it is essential for many
families in our community it provides
crucial support that allows parents like
me to work while ensuring our children
are safe and engaged I urge you to
consider
maintaining or even expanding this
invaluable program I am in favor of tax
increase thank you for your time and
consideration thank you Timothy is next
followed by
Teresa mayor and Council my name is Tim
Jenkins I'm a resident of the City of
Phoenix and a member of the kelbach
community neighborhood association I
came on here because I'm compelled to
express my concern regarding the budget
shortfalls being discussed today My
worry is that in times of financial
constraint Community programs are often
the first to be affected I have seen
firsthand how initiatives like the Gated
alley program the Speen Hub program and
the shade tree program has significantly
contributed to creating safer
neighborhoods for our community the
programs not only enhance our quality of
life but they F Foster a sense of
security well-being and pride of
community among residents I urge you all
to consider the impact of cutting these
vital F small programs that could have
on the safety of our neighborhood it is
crucial that we continue investing in
these initiatives not only because they
are necessary but because they are
working effectively to improve our
community thank you for your attention
to this important
matter thank you for your testimony
Teresa is next followed by
Elizabeth mayor and councel I want to
thank you um for having these meetings
online and I hope people are watching
thank you budget team a year ago I
didn't understand how much you juggled
but getting educated I see the light I
agree we need an increase in taxes to
recover what our legisl have done I see
what the legislatures are proposing and
waiting feeling like they're playing
dominoes with the people people need
fire stations equipment to help larger
populations less is not better if
consequences are less then funding is
like to affect more of our emergency
times people are being evicted from
their homes
Maricopa County eight 87,134
think about the people look at the whole
picture of your
actions it isn't just common
sense it's important to do the math
thank you city council and I'll end with
this you put the people first as our
police officers and our firemen they are
out there for us and we need to support
them thank
you thank you Elizabeth is next followed
by
Rebecca thank you for having me mayor
City Council Members I am Elizabeth
agular a resident of my community which
is marel for 30 years I want to express
the compassion I have for my community
I'm also a police assistant City of
Phoenix that's always looking up
resources to help others I joined
Community programs I Fe the hom partic
participated in raising money for the
less fortunate always helping when need
in our community our community needs
programs such as the alates which I
started in our neighborhood to feel safe
please focus on the families that are
struggling with inflation when you
deliberate and approaching to balance a
city budget let's not go backwards let's
go forward let's get let's continue
where we started when I always say you
start you finish let's continue this
journey and continue our program
projects and funding let's not stop
enhancing our community and continue
striving for the best outcome we deserve
I have lived in M over 30 years I walked
the parks ride my bikes and see what
areas can be structured for a safe
environment I enjoy bike riding and
excited for the canal
skape now the construction of sweno Park
and OA Park please consider the impact
the loss of these programs can do to our
families children and Lifestyles thank
you and also thank you for the
explanation of the general funding I'm
voting yes for the increase to protect
our our
programs thank you thank you Rebecca
will be our final
[Music]
speaker H mayor and counsel my name is
Rebecca Jenkins as a resident of the
City of Phoenix and a member of
camelback Community neighborhood
association I'd like to share my
concerns regarding the budget deficit
being discussed today my concerns stem
from the fact that when cities face
Financial constraints Community programs
often bear the brunt of these cuts the
success we have experienced in creating
safer neighborhoods in Phoenix could be
jeopardized if the vital initiatives
like the Gated alley program the speed
hump program and the shade program and
others are being reduced or
eliminated these programs have not only
been beneficial but are essential in
enhancing our community safety and
livability I urge you to consider
continuing these Investments they're not
just necessary they are effective and
have made a tangible difference in our
neighborhood thank you for giving me the
chance to speak
today thank you so much that concludes
public comment uh I will turn to city
manager for a question at the federal
level the US House of
Representatives uh is looking at to pay
for extensions of the 2017 tax law so
they have to pay for it to offset it and
the budget and ways and Mees committee
have put a repeal of Municipal tax bonds
and indeed this would also affect many
categories Beyond cities on the list of
possible pay Force we use municipal
bonds to expand the airport to invest in
water infrastructure for the great
General obligation Bond Investments that
we've discussed several times today
including new fire stations can you talk
a little bit about what that would mean
for us sure mayor uh great question um
the the impact of this of the IRS or the
FED federal government taking away the
tax exempt status on on municipal bonds
or Municipal debt would have a pretty
catastrophic impact um I I'll use an
anecdote to kind of give you an example
so we voters recently passed the $500
million go Bond program we sold the
first $250 million Tron of that some of
that was taxable some of it was tax
exempt if we took the portion that was
tax exempt and be made it taxable over
the life of that debt it would cost an
additional $50
million that's really I think important
for us to discuss because there are
budget numbers we have put out based on
the fact that we will continue to be
able to issue Municipal tax exempt bonds
as we have been and this would have a
pretty
catastrophic effect on our economy would
also have a catastrophic effect
nationally in my opinion the
overwhelming majority of construction is
done with tax exempt
bonds so much of the progress we need to
make would be slowed or stopped we are
behind as a country in investment and
infrastructure this is an important tool
and and you wouldn't just see it in your
city bills uh you would see it in your
SRP Bill and uh the central arizota
project would be impacted it would be
very difficult at all levels of
government so just really wanted to draw
attention to that and and to folks who
are speaking with their Federal
delegation members how vitally important
it is that we be able to use tax exempt
financing to build more fire stations
Etc I appreciate the hard work on this
and and the community members who weigh
in uh we also I just want to reflect as
we craft the budget we understand our
community is really pushing us on
homelessness and and that's a priority
for every every single one of us up here
and so we're going to look for ways to
move forward in in that area we know
that that is such a tough challenge that
we hear about regularly um and for me as
I look at where we might need to invest
excise tax funds or more that is still a
topic that is still very much on my mind
uh most of the costs we have right
now that we need to add to the budget
are operations and maintenance costs but
we are quite likely particularly as we
decide the city's plan to respond to a
ballot proposition related to
homelessness going to also need to do
some additional Capital expenditures we
may also need to do some additional
Capital Investments related to heat
which continues to be a really difficult
and ongoing challenge for us so never a
dull day at the City of Phoenix we got a
lot of challenges uh amber did not go
into the many bills of the legislature
that would cut our Revenue but there are
many uh there's one we begun to call
pension
the very significant cost related to
that item and so again we are balancing
a lot of challenges right now I think
councilman pestor had some
questions I do um one of the items we
talk about State
share uh income
tax could you please just a brief quick
synopsis as what to happen in 2022 and
why we're here today and how much money
we have lost yes thank you for the
question councilwoman Pastor mayor
members of the council so in 2022 former
Governor Ducey signed into law reducing
the individual income tax rate from a
four tax bracket Progressive system down
to one flat tax of
2.5% this essentially reduced revenues
not only to cities and towns that share
an income tax but also to the state so
it's significant to the city the bar
chart that I had shown in the
presentation shows that we're going to
you have 19% year-over-year declines in
the current year an additional 7%
decline next year it totals almost
basically 125 million dollar over the
two two fiscal years so it's significant
in terms of its impact to the City of
Phoenix but also to like I said all
cities and towns just from lowering it
from that four tax bracket system to
2.5% and as the mayor had mentioned and
I'm glad that she she did included in
the council report is reference to
several bills um we've estimated an
impact based on when those were
submitted about 176 million to the City
of Phoenix I do want to say some of
those bills aren't moving but we're
tracking it very closely but it is
significant there's C members of the
legislature that seem to want to
continue to reduce Revenue as a way to
limit
government and then could you talk about
the residential rental tax yes and how
that now or how it's been impacting us
we have 125 million now we have how much
yes thank you um councilwoman Pastor
mayor members of the council so as I got
into in the PowerPoint presentation the
ongoing annual impact to the general
fund for next fiscal year it's almost
$50 million it's 47.4 I believe is the
number to all funds it's 90 million
including to our Public Safety specialty
funds Transportation 2050 and parks and
preserves so over that forecast period
on that chart it's about a $320 million
loss to the City of Phoenix for all of
our funds that received residential
rental over that period of
time which what I also understand
affects Public Safety like all these
dollars are impacting our Public
Safety um there's a huge impact on it
yes thank you also for that question um
roughly 60% of the general fund goes to
Public Safety to police and fire so when
residential rental impacts the general
fund it impacts our ability to be able
to fund Public Safety it also impacted
the public safety specialty funds as
well for residential rental loss um
additionally it's it's all of the funds
that are really taking the loss of the
revenue but the income tax I did want to
point out that is 100% allocated to our
general fund but again 60% of our
general fund is made up of police and
fire thank
you then what would we do if we didn't
pass this and what would happen to the
bonds would the bonds be
implemented and this is
voter the voters chose to pass the bond
yes thank you for also for that question
um Council woman pastor and mayor
members of the council so the 2023
General obligation Bond program the Vue
that supports the actual projects comes
from secondary property tax so that's
not impacted in terms of being able to
move forward with that Geo Bond program
however the operating costs for the Geo
Bond program are funded by our general
fund we have built into the forecast the
cost of the on andm the operating
maintenance cost for those projects but
certainly if we weren't to have
additional Revenue to replace what the
state has done the council will have
difficult decisions to make to ensure we
can make good on what the voters pass
with that goo Bond program but at the
same time adopting a sound balanced
budget each year and meeting all the
other demands and expectations that the
council has and our residents um quite
frankly are expecting the city to
deliver so basically we would have to
figure out um what project we would want
to move forward to be able to pay for
the operating funds or you would have to
find other areas of the budget to cut
cut right because you're very limited as
I discussed in the presentation on what
the council can do to increase Revenue
we not not a business we're a government
and you're restricted by state law on
what you can do to increase
revenue and then what I read in the in
the packet was that the last time we did
an increase in the general fund was
1986 am I correct or am I wrong yes
councilman Pastor mayor members of the
council the general fund TPT and use tax
rate to the general fund has been 1.2%
since 198 6 the current rate is 2.3 the
general fund gets the 1.2 of the 2.3 so
the 1.2% has not increased since that
time and then my want to close to my
final uh thoughts and questions
um on I have a well on the slide I have
a 2025 2026 trial budget
supplements and in there it talks about
32 safer
positions uh the geobond station 15 and
then the
homeless um OS could you please explain
oh well let me let me back up my
understanding are these are being funded
and I'm not sure if it's arpa dollars
that they're being funded by or they
grants that they're being funded by but
either way either one grants or arpa
dollars uh that funding will be
disappearing and going away
so my understanding is now we will um
now place these items into the general
fund or these
positions yes um thank you um council
member Pastor mayor members of the
council so the 2526 supplementals those
are net new additions to the general
fund that are being proposed for the
fire department it's 32 sworn positions
right now that are funded by a safer
grant that safer Grant is expiring it's
running out so we have to move the
positions and the costs associated with
those positions into the general fund
that's the 5 million roughly ongoing for
the Geo bondfire station station 15 we
have to start hiring the sworn personnel
that's a net new addition to the general
fund budget so that's an addition for
the fire department to hire those
additional sworn personnel I believe
it's 24 sworn positions that would be
added to the general fund budget a
partial year next year and then ongoing
and then for the office of Homeless
Solutions all of the work that OS has
been doing right now for the unsheltered
and to limit impacts to neighborhoods we
have to move those costs because the
arpa funds are expiring so to continue
the work that they've been doing we have
to move roughly $5 million next fiscal
year into the general fund but then
ongoing starting in
2627 to continue the work that they're
doing they need roughly 26 million which
would be a future supplemental for 2627
to expand
that okay then I'm going to go to the
next bullet because the slide's not up
but um then it says provides 25 million
ongoing to fire to reduce response times
because we have been talking about
response times and then it says details
will be included in the trial budget
where is that 25 million coming from yes
thank you good question so councilwoman
mayor members of the council that $25
million net new addition to the general
fund budget would come from the increase
of the TPT and use tax if Council were
to approve that rate increase on March
18th to
2.8% okay and could you PL explain to
the audience excise tax what is excise
tax excise taxes include our city sales
tax which is the transaction privilege
tax and use taxes it also includes our
state shared sales tax state shared
income tax and state shared vehicle
license taxes those are considered
excise taxes okay what will we do with
those taxes those taxes right now State
shared revenues allocated 100% to the
general fund and the city TPT and use
tax is allocated to the general fund and
to our voter approv special Revenue
funds primarily okay well I would like
to thank everybody uh for working on
this this has been a on ongoing
conversation for quite some time um my
final question is I would like to know
what legislation is going to hurt us um
I know that it is but but I think we
need to be fair and Frank uh for our
constituents to know uh what type of
legislation is going to hurt us in the
future which right now we're talking
about today but when this happens or
when it's voted within the next couple
months it will hurt us tomorrow that we
really aren't planning
for we're hoping um some items have been
been you know taken or delayed or
however but I believe they will there is
a possibility for all of them to come
back and then that's where negotiations
is and so I think we need to talk about
that and I think we really need to talk
about some legislation that is really
kind of taking our tax away and tiring
our hands um but I don't know who to
direct that
to Mayor members of council councilwoman
pastor we what we can do is we do send
out as part of the
the informational packet on a regular
basis a list of legislation that that
our government relations team is working
on either trying to support or defeat so
what we can do as we as we move forward
throughout our budget process we can
incorporate especially maybe in the
March 18th triout budget presentation it
might behoove us to incorporate a
portion of that into with with um our
government relations team talking about
some of those bills that Amber has
referenced that that total right now
about $176 million worth of impact to
the City of
Phoenix and I think it's important to
incorporate that because I think it's
important for public to understand what
is happening um and sometimes I would
say we we stay silent on some of these
bills because we're staying silent but
it impacts us and as we have these
conversations with our community I think
we need to be straightforward and they
determine if they want to go Advocate at
the legislation or they determine if
they want to elect those that are in
office and so I don't want to miss that
conversation or have that conversation
and I would like to have it publicly too
thank
you well said councilwoman HUD
Washington thank you mayor I the
questions brought up two new thoughts
for me and I just wanted to clarify one
of the things I think the City of
Phoenix has done pretty well over the
since I've been on Council for what
that's worth is the uh application in a
receipt of federal grants um with the
current Administration I wonder if we
have any um any guess or estimate as to
how that may work or how that may affect
some of the funding choices that funding
sources that we get whether or not
that's CBG funding or HUD funding or
anything of that nature does this budget
take that into account uh mayor members
of council councilwoman Hajj Washington
that is also an excellent question and
it's another risk that that we have
relative to our forecast and relative to
trying to provide a continued level of
service to our residents um we did a
presentation few weeks ago where we
talked about some of the grants that
we've been successful at at acquiring um
you know Deputy city manager Mario
panaga and and and Larry they did a
presentation a few weeks ago talking
about that's about $700 Million worth of
grants that they've received on top of
that we know we have about three billion
that's with a b um dollars worth of
grants that fund operating in capital
across the entirety of our city so there
is huge exposure there I I think we
learn daily U kind of with executive
orders what types of things are out
there that could impact us so at this
point we don't really know what would
what we what we could be faced with but
we do have some pretty significant
exposure and I think at this juncture
the uh forecast is proposing based on
what we already know thus far is that
accurate or does that need to be built
in that is correct okay thank you and
then similarly we saw a number of
propositions that were passed in the 24
election here in Arizona and I wondered
if we've considered the budgetary um
impact of those proposition on the City
of
Phoenix for example um some of the
property um tax you know refund and
other expenses yeah thank you
councilwoman Hajj Washington mayor
members of the council that would be
proposition 312 that's the public
nuisance law so that calls for that
property taxpayers can apply to the
Arizona Department of Revenue for a
refund of their annual property taxes
that they paid if they feel that a city
or a town didn't fall through with their
ordinances or their laws um as it
pertains to public nuisance um if it is
found that the city um failed to enforce
laws or um contribute to a public
nuisance then the taxpayer would receive
the refund directly from Arizona
Department of Revenue and the City of
Phoenix would have its state shared
sales taxes reduced by that amount um
the difficult part with that to answer
your question first off no the forecast
and the status for next year does not
incorporate any type of an impact from
proposition 312 we don't have any
information data historical um data to
reference to know what type of impact
that will have the City of Phoenix also
has an opportunity to respond to the
taxpayer to try to rectify the issue or
can basically state that that we're not
in agreement um at that point we could
incur litigation expenses so we simply
just don't know what the impact of prop
312 would be I can tell you just from my
perspective that not continuing the work
for homelessness um could put us at risk
of losing some of our state shared sales
tax revenue
um if we we don't do something to be
able to prevent individual taxpayers
from stating we're not complying with
our own laws and doing something that's
they feel is harming their their
economic or financial value of their
property and I I don't know if our City
attorney or city manager has anything
additional to add but that's from my
perspective what that impact is no but
thank you natic thank you I I just
wanted to highlight that as we continue
to have more pressures on us from the
legislature and in providing um in
providing more services there at the
same time taking away those resources
that are needed to uh address the issue
so thank you for that clarification and
then my last question was um in response
to a question from my colleague
councilman Robinson
um asking is there anything more that we
can do or is the are we limited to what
is stated in the notice not that I'm
saying we want to automatically go ahead
that ahead of it but I wanted to make
sure there was some clarification on
that mayor members of the as it pertains
to the sales tax notice we are limited
to what we posted it for so we cannot
exceed that um and so at this point in
time that that's all we have at our
disposal okay so if for example we do
receive some more limitations whether or
not it's from the federal government or
from another state a from a state from
the state agency or state legislature
directed us we would have to come back
and begin this process a new to balance
our budget correct that is correct thank
you so much for that that is all mayor
thank you I think the council brings up
a really important point we are going
through a period of what some are
calling def federalization there are
functions that the federal government
used to take on from housing to
Emergency Management to Head Start that
they may be exiting and so if
we believe those functions are important
other levels of government will have to
take them on the City of Phoenix has
hundreds of employees who are paid
through federal grants and so the
impacts could be quite deep uh some of
those are positions that we will need to
continue
if this council's current values move
forward and so we just really need to
think about that some cities are setting
aside a pot of money in their budgets to
prepare for that Def federalization and
that's something we ought to
consider councilman gindo AA bring us
home here we go um you know one thing
that I think that we need to just go
back a little bit on um because before
we ask our residents to pay more in
taxes we we've got to do our part and
thank you for uh I know that the
information is forthcoming in terms of
where those cuts are going to come from
and I believe you said 24 to 25
million um so that's good because we can
say that we've we've done our part in
and pairing down um where we needed to
um and the presentation tells us a story
we have to act that it's a matter of
urgency and we know the math and so my
hope is that all my Council colleagues U
when they come to vote on March 18th
that they'll join me in supporting uh
the TBT rate increase because I'm going
to be asking for a unanimous vote from
this Council just like we did with last
year's budget I think we need to come
together um to solve this and I'm going
to be asking for it so I'm doing it
tonight and I'll do it again
then a good comment to end on thank you
Amber and your team thank you Jeff for
this really important presentation and
thank you to our community
members who have attended budget
meetings testified today and provided
input in Council meetings and coffees
and out in the community our final
agenda today will be the Wildland Urban
interface fired preparedness this is a
topic that we've gotten a lot of
questions
about lately and we wanted to provide an
update to our community on this very
important topic it's a big one for us to
put into perspective the city's Wildland
Urban interface fired preparedness we
provide resident and visitors with more
than 41,000 Acres of desert parks and
Mountain preserves land that is
equivalent to 10% of the land mass of
the entire State of Rhode Island just in
Phoenix's Urban Park system alone we
also know that we have state trust land
and other land that is also part of that
Wildland Urban Fire interface so I want
to say thank you to our hardworking
staff and volunteers who work year round
on these issues whether it be keeping
invasive species at Bay or investing in
our water service distribution system I
will now turn it over to our assistant
city manager to introduce the
item thank you mayor members of the
council we are here today to talk to you
about a topic that has been on the minds
of many since the tragic wildfires in in
Southern California and um we've had
many conversations with many of you
individually and with community members
and we are proud to present to you today
some of the preparation and emergency
preparedness that we have in place here
in the city of Phoenix so with that I
will start with executive assistant
chief Tim chce thank you assistant city
manager Bay mayor members of council
start off with what is a Wildland Urban
interface the Wildland Urban interface
is where human development structures
INF structure Etc encroaches and grows
into the natural landscape and wildfires
are one of the most significant
challenges not just in the state of
Arizona but the southwestern United
States and in a lot of places around the
globe and Mayo you probably remember
this but the you had had a meeting that
you scheduled with the city of London
and we talked about heat response and we
talked about the challenges that they
were facing with Wildland Urban
interface fires in extreme heat in
London and at that meeting we were able
to share some of the things that we were
doing as a fire department learn some
things from them and for us as a
department that was a a a wonderful
opportunity but we do that all over the
place we meet with and work very closely
with our local automatic Aid partners
and I'll speak to that in some more
detail in a minute we work very closely
with the state department of fire en
forestry management folks would
collaborate with departments around the
country the US fire Administration list
goes on for best practices in Wildland
Urban interface and
firefighting so going back to 2019 we
had a significant Community risk
reduction effort to address Wildland
Urban interface and the reason if you're
asking why in 2019 it was because I was
on the fire department then and and many
folks who who probably remember this we
got a lot of rain in 2018 and 2019
specifically in the fall and winter
months that was great for the water
Department great for the community but
it also resulted in significant
vegetation growth and when that
vegetation growth grows and dries out in
the in the uh spring the fire risk goes
up and for us in the valley the type of
fire that we deal with in our landscape
in our environment when temperatures are
above 105 and humidity is below 15% and
and even 10% even the fire risk goes up
significantly for us for Wildland Urban
interface fires
high winds make that even worse and
there's a cycle which I'll speak to more
in a minute but I'm going to hit on just
for a second here that Wildland Urban
interface time period for us where we're
usually at greatest risk depending on
weather and a lot of other factors is in
the springtime and before the monsoon
season here in the
valley so before I go any further into
into things one of the questions that I
want to answer for folks in the
community who might be watching um and
to share with follow you is the question
of what should we as community members
be doing as it relates to wadland Urban
interface preparedness and preparedness
across the board and the first thing and
one of the most important things is just
be ready for it and what I mean by being
ready for it is maintaining a defensible
space around your house so cutting trees
that are that that are not healthy if
you got trees that are right up next to
your your attic space and the gabled
ends in your house and these sorts of
things trimming those back maintaining
your natural landscape maintaining your
property will significantly reduce fire
risk and in the event that there is a
fire it makes the firefighter jobs and
chances of being successful a whole lot
better the next thing is being set so
what we're talking about there is
planning your Escape Routes talking to
your family where you going to go all
those aspects in there and the last one
is go in the Evac in the event of an
evacuation order we have a significant
fire director Lee will talk more about
uh some of the big picture things there
from an emergency management perspective
but one of the earliest things that may
happen is firefighters and police
officers knocking on your door and
telling you hey we we got to go so being
ready to go is another important
thing as far as wadland Urban interface
prevention we work with a lot of folks
on this public and private fuel
reduction programs to remove vegetation
and maintain the landscape one that
we're very proud of and it's one example
but it's a good example is a partnership
at the water department with the trace
Rios Watershed facility out Southwest
Phoenix uh we've done this twice we did
it last year in in October where we
partnered with them on a controlled burn
to manage that landscape and that was a
partnership between the water department
the Phoenix fire department and the
Arizona Department of fire en forestry
management and any best practices that
we have on Wildland Urban interface fire
prevention and and best practices across
the board we share through our website
through social media and other ways to
connect to the
community this slide intends to just
show that we as a fire department know
where the Wildland Urban interface
exists in our community and we know it
because our firefighters work extremely
hard on pre-incident planning so this
map is representative of those areas and
all of these areas are pre-programmed
into our computer AED dispatch system
things that we look at when we came up
with this map is fuel loads defensible
space structures and topography and of
course where the waterlander win
interface
exists as far as what do we do with that
information this is a program and that
would was new back in 2019 we were
working on the community risk reduction
plan for this across the board is in
when weather conditions dictate
typically in the springtime and
sometimes a little bit past our n normal
monsoon season depending on what's
happening with weather is we activate
our wadland Urban interface deployment
program so you're probably wondering
what that is what that is is all of the
areas that we've identified on that map
previously if somebody calls 911 and
says there's a grass or a brush fire w
wild fire we're going to send five
engines and multiple brush trucks and
tenders and command officers on that
initial response prior to that program
being in place our dispatchers would
have likely sent an engine and a rush
truck on those the reason we're sending
all those resources early is because we
know the weather risk is up we know
where the risky the areas are that exist
in the Wildland Urban interface and
sending a bunch of resources early and
stopping the fire early is a whole lot
better than having to send hundreds and
deal with a fire that could be very
destructive in our
community and then the last thing I want
to hit on in this slide is when we built
the Wildland Urban interface program all
of our operating procedures for Wildland
Urban interface firefighting all of the
training that was all done regionally in
addition to being done in partnership
with our state and federal fire
agencies so this photo here is the fire
that happened on the evening I believe
January 25th don't quote me on that but
I'm pretty darn sure it was January 25th
in any case it was on South Mountain and
it was absolutely visible to Residents
in our community and they were concerned
about it our firefighters did a great
job at controlling this fire and keeping
it only to a few Acres so I'm very proud
of that but I want to show you this next
one here and this is a video and why I'm
showing you this is I just want to
underscore how new technology is
assisting our fire department with our
efficiency on the fire on the evening of
South Mountain we had air support with
Firebird giv us intelligence to the
firefighters who are working so the
helicopter was up the next day we flew
our drone and the reason we did this
when I was a firefighter before the
Drone program a very long time ago now
we would have to climb back up the
mountain and walk around and make sure
all those hot spots were out it's called
mop up that's what we'd have to do with
the Drone we were able to use this tool
to assess the area and we did it
multiple times to make sure that fire
was out as as we would expect it to be
the Drone has thermal capabilities which
you're not seeing in this video because
it's not impressive because the fire was
out but those thermal capabilities are
excellent oops sorry I did that okay and
last one I want to hit on here is just
our Partnerships so the Phoenix fire
department works really closely with the
water services department not just on
wadland Urban interface inance but on
pretty much every significant fire as a
captain Battalion Chief Deputy Chief
assistant chief of operations and now in
my role for the organization today we
work with the water department all the
time they respond to incidents and we
call them when we need them and they do
a great job for us in addition to that
back in 2019 going back to our community
risk Reduction Program we built really
strong Partnerships with our state and
our federal fire agencies but I really
want to talk about the department of
fire and Forestry management the State
Fire folks they do an amazing job for us
they help help us with hand Crews when
we need that help but they also provide
us air support and we've used that air
support on a lot of incidents in the
city of Phoenix and we have a program to
manage that and work with the with them
and and and do the command procedures
and manage these things when we have
these incidents something that I was
concerned about and I'm still a little
bit concerned about frankly is air
support is critical on these types of
fires and there may be a day when
there's significant fires in northern
Arizona there's significant fires across
the southwestern United States and their
that air support might not be available
for us and those concerns caused me to
reach out to our partners with the
Phoenix Police Department to see if we
could recruit their air unit in to do an
air support in Bambi bucket operations
and they said yes without hesitation so
the photo that you're looking at on this
slide is Phoenix Firebird helicopter
with a firefighting Bambi bucket
underneath it helping us fight a fire so
they have that capability to help us do
that and that's a that's a great thing
for us um for our firefighters training
and equipment is a big part of this I'm
going to talk a little bit more about
the cycle for for our management but our
firefighters train on this stuff every
year we go through our equipment every
year to make sure it's ready to go and
we have a wadland urban interface
automatic Aid System subcommittee that
reports to the operations committee that
built all of this stuff in partnership
with our labor group we also have a
wadland urban interface subcommittee
within the Phoenix Fire Department Labor
Management
process so this video that you're
looking at here here is that air support
coordinated by the Arizona Department of
fire en forestry management this is a a
very large air tanker dropping
firefighting materials down on a fire
that we had in the city of
Phoenix so sum up a couple things here
so Wildland Urban interface challenges
will continue to evolve annual weather
patterns are going to drive that for us
uh it's pretty dry out there right now
we've had a couple brush fires already
the cycle for us on the Phoenix fire
department is a Perpetual cycle so about
this time of year and even before this
we're training up and getting our
firefighters ready for the season we're
checking out our equipment and making
sure our equipment's ready to go when
the temperatures and the humidity and
Springtime comes along and the fuels
start to dry out we'll activate our
wadland Urban interface deployment
package and some other resources within
the fire department we'll get through
the season when The Season's done we'll
do after action reports and that cycle
will continue
forever and with
that um actually there's one more excuse
me for and then just sorry sorry about
that so for us building on the program
that we have is important so continueing
that building on our firefighter
traininga capacity is important and as
discussed throughout this meeting and we
appreciate your continued support is we
do have some challenges with resources
and response times now and having a
significant Wild fires is is is going to
stress our system and could have
stresses for us there so with that I'll
turn it over to director Hayes with the
water
department thanks Chief mayor and
Council fundamentally all of the water
that we need for drinking and for other
uses comes from the production of our
water treatment plants as a reminder uh
we have own and operate five water
treatment plants three of those plants
receive water from the salt and verie
river systems the 24th Street Plant
which is over in the builtmore area the
Deer Valley Water Treatment Plant over
in the Metro Center area the Valvista
Water Treatment Plant which is the
state's largest water treatment plant
which is jointly owned with the city of
Mesa sits out in the city of Mesa we
also have two facilities that are uh
that get its water from the Colorado
River system through the central Arizona
project one is the Union Hills Water
Treatment Plant which is the state's
first water treatment plant that
treating Colorado River water and then
the Lake Pleasant Water Treatment Plant
under normal operating conditions water
for a day is ordered the night before
and adjusted on a daily basis to make up
for the day's demands under emergency
situation additional water could be
released and get into the system within
6 hours under these emergency situations
the water treatment Productions could be
expanded up to 610 million gallons a
day uh just to kind of put in
perspective of what that is that
production level is approximately 200
million gallons or 50% more more than
what we see on the hottest summer day of
the demands also to put that capacity
into perspective the large pallet fires
the warehouse fires that we've dealt
with with the fire department only use
about 2 million gallons spread over a
couple of day periods so it's a lot of
extra redundancy in and resiliency in
our treatment
systems after leaving the treatment
plants water enters the distribution
system where it can be used the 7,000 Mi
of pipeline of distributions pipe spans
an elevation change of about 12200 ft
from the rivers up to the north due to
that elevation variation the city is
divided up into 13 major pressure zones
to ensure standardized pressure targets
throughout the city those pressure zones
are are served by various water supply
systems including water mange storage
tanks pump stations and pressure
reducing stations the water demand which
includes the amount of water required
for normal customer needs potential fire
uses are key factors in how our systems
are designed the major water zones are
designed with at least two ways of
bringing water into those zones that
redundancy ensures reliable Supply
throughout the
city the 57 water storage reservoirs and
tanks provide approximately 480 million
gallons of storage throughout the city
that storage provides operational
resiliency to meet peak hour demands fir
flow storage or emergency reserves in
case of things like water main breaks
and other things that we see in our
systems for areas without storage KES
the the pump stations and pressure
reducing stations that are used to feed
those zones are required to be larger in
capacity primarily to meet those fire
flow conditions that we might see and as
Chief Christ pointed out is under
emergency situations the water services
department coordinates with the fire by
sending an operational Specialists to
sit in their Incident Command Center to
give them operational guidance and
essentially just how do you get more
water into those zones and how they can
switch to find the larger pipes and
other things like that and we've
implemented this on the last large fires
that we've had and I think it's worked
well for both both
departments in 2021 the water services
conducted a comprehensive review of our
fire hydrant program to ensure
consistent and regular execution of
preventative maintenance inspection
testing repair and replacement of fire
hydrant across our system the primary
goal of that system continues to be the
due diligent testing and maintenance of
our 57,000 fire hydrants annually and
ensure compliance with our City's Fire
code
at this time we currently have over 99%
of our fds that are operational and with
that I will turn it over to director
Lee thank you
director good afternoon Madam mayor vice
mayor and members of council emergency
response to these complex fast-moving
incidents requires a well-coordinated
and a strategic response under an all
hazards unified approach with a primary
focus on the following three areas of
planning and preparation resource
coordination and operational response
and
communication the City of Phoenix office
of emergency management maintains the
city's Emergency Operations plans in
accordance with section 11-5 of the
city's Charter and this is to ensure a
continuous state of operational
Readiness and emergency response
preparedness for the City of Phoenix OEM
Works directly with Public Safety First
Responders all affected City departments
County state federal resources to
coordinate an effective and efficient
response to a Wildland Urban interface
incident OEM works collaboratively with
the affected City Department's public
information officers as well as the
city's Communications team to ensure
effective communication and unified
messaging is provided both internally
and externally to the public and City
Department staff as well as City
leadership during an emergency
incident OEM in collaboration with
Phoenix fire department the Maricopa
County Department of Emergency
Management are responsible for
developing and maintaining the city's
Hazard mitigation plan which is focused
on planning and preparedness the primary
purpose of this plan is to identify
natural hazards impacting Phoenix and
assess the vulnerability and the risk
posed by those CommunityWide hazards
affecting both human and structural
assets the plan develops strategies for
Mitigation Of identified hazards reviews
future maintenance procedures and
documents the planning
process the office of emergency
management routinely conducts and
participates in tabletop and full scale
exercises designed to test procedures
response and Recovery states of
Readiness within the City of Phoenix and
our regional County and state partner
agencies these tabletop and fulls scale
exercises cover multiple topics and
scenarios spanning the entire Emergency
Management Spectrum recent examples
include Phoenix oem's participation with
the Maricopa County Flood Control
District Cactus League Baseball spring
training uh for both Regional and
countywide exercises and various
tabletop exercises with our Aviation
Partners at Sky Harbor including their
recent triennial full scale exercise to
name just a few Phoenix OEM continues to
remain prepared uh and identifying any
future and training opportunities with
the fire department and any of our
regional Partners on important topics
such as Wildland Urban interface
incidents in response to an incident the
office of emergency management would
respond right along with police and fire
departments to conduct assessment and
coordinate resource with local County
state and federal agencies along with
our affected City departments and our
public and private strategic partners
for example APS SRP uh Southwest Gas Etc
during a Wildland Urban interface
incident I would be responsible for
activating the emergency Operation
Center as well as activating a joint
information center and to make
notifications also to the meropa County
Department of Emergency Management of
its
activation OEM works with Public Safety
responders to develop a suitable traffic
management plan and this is to assist
the public with egress from an affected
area while ensuring that an effective
route of Ingress is maintained to
support emergency First Responders who
are trying to access the impacted area
to address the incident at
hand OEM will uh facilitate the
coordination of City Department
resources and Personnel for use during
the incident to include facilitating
evacuations establishing shelter and
family reunification family assistance
centers as needed the office of
emergency management will coordinate
with Maricopa County Department of
Emergency Management for the acquisition
of additional resources for the count
from the county if and when all local
resources have been
exhausted during a Wildland Urban
interface incident the primary emergency
support function is the fire department
ESF 4 who would take the lead on all
messaging through their public
information office the office of
emergency management along with fire pi
and our city Communications team will
work collaboratively with with First
Responders to develop unified messaging
to the public regarding evacuation
instructions routing or shelter in place
recommendations the office of emergency
management coordinates with the city's
Communications team to provide special
instruction to our affected City of
Phoenix Personnel via the everbridge
system and to provide City Department
staff with instructions for reporting
assignments based on their respective
emergency support function if they were
to be
activated the office of emergency
management also coordinates directly ly
with the Maricopa County Department of
Emergency Management for the issuance of
wireless emergency alerts or WEA
messaging as needed to the affected
population based on the
conditions OEM will coordinate with City
leadership in the event of any kind of
emergency declaration in the event
that's issued and OEM will continue to
provide updates uh share intelligence
and information to the city manager
throughout the duration of the uh
incident to include mayor and Council
this concludes our presentation at this
time i' be happy to take any questions
thank you so much a very important
presentation and we appreciate the
collaboration across City departments Al
also and ask for our
residents historically 60% of wildfires
that have burned in Arizona have been CA
caused by humans in 2023 it hit 71% so
we all have a role there comments we'll
go to councilman Robinson and then
councilman Glendo AA mayor thank you
very much um it was a great presentation
as the mayor said and I wanted to just
make a comment more than anything else
last Friday we had the opportunity um
councilwoman Stark myself and um County
Board of supervisor Vice chair Kate broy
McGee the three of us
hosted this presentation on a much
grander scale to about a 100 people um
we had folks come as far away as Anthem
and we did it over the Devonshire Senior
Center where Chief chrry and Commander
Lee and a host of other folks from the
county and other City departments pre
presented on these types of issues
Wildlife interface and um Wildland
interface rather Wildland Urban
interface talked about that and both
Brian and Tim talked about the things
that kept them up at night and the group
collectively um was really grateful for
the information the coordination um
Chief Christ you talked about the
Partnerships early on it's clearly in
Place anybody who had an opportunity to
be there and to listen to what all the
groups had to say the office of
emergency management from the county as
well as the city the coordination is
critical and you guys are doing it so I
wanted to say that publicly I wanted to
thank you for that presentation last
week and it was well received to the
point where folks want us to do it again
in other parts of the um our Council
district and such so more can come so
we'll be hitting you up for that mayor
thank you for the time no wonder they
were so polished today
Council M and thank you mayor um what
happens in the instance if there's a
total collapse of wireless communication
to reach
residents mayor vice mayor and
councilman gindo of laa um there are
built-in redundancies within our City's
Communications plan it's a very robust
and comprehensive plan that uh City
takes great pride in activating when
something like this were to happen uh we
have multiple platforms that we can use
uh there is a heavy Reliance on our
Communications team's ability to utilize
social media messaging so we get
real-time information but I think one of
the biggest takeaways and one of the
takeaways that we learned from the
incidents uh in La was a unified
messaging uh component and that has to
be that has to be in place so that we're
sending the right information to the
right people at the right time and I
think that was um an area that we always
seek to do but we would make sure that
that was in place for any messaging
outwardly to to the public um we do
utilize uh the wireless emergency alert
based on certain I conditions if it
rises to that level where we can
actually geofence a particular area uh
and then we can make sure that anybody
driving in and out of that area gets
that message in real time so that we can
actually uh push that information to
them so they can make better more
informed decisions uh and then we again
we will continue to partner with our our
fire department folks the PD folks as
well as our our folks here with with
media to push information out over the
media uh utilizing their abundant
platforms that they have access
to and then I just have one more
question
um the video that you played um with the
drop of the fire
deterrent the chemical that's
used harmful to our firefighters no okay
I needed to
ask thank you councilwoman hod
Washington thank you mayor um I too want
to say thank you for the presentation it
was very informative as Council District
8 par uh South Mountain park is in that
in the in that in is in that my district
it's one of the questions sometimes we
do hear especially when there is a brush
fire um so I want to say thank you you
guys have always been very expedient in
the extinguishing of that fire and
communicating that I wanted to ask a
couple of questions just regarding what
was shared regarding the wildlife Urban
interface um I given what you've
identified the areas where we where we
anticipate more of an increased risk of
this type of activity are does the plan
include any frequency of Inspections
just to ensure that we aren't like
there's not no any excessive brush in
the
area yeah the the plan excuse me mayor
and members of council the plan is
really about our folks knowing the areas
and pre-planning and then also sending
resources out certainly if our
firefighters see an area that needs fuel
reduction done they'll communicate that
to the right folks to to see that that
fuel reductions done we work with the
parks department Neighborhood Services
Department streets department uh and and
actually even some state and federal
when the land is owned by them we work
with a lot of folks on that okay thank
you and then the second question on that
issue um for example like a and I'm
using the historical data what we've
seen like in in in the LA fires and on
larger California fires some of them
were not necessarily were maintenance
issues based on utility providers I'm
not saying that is the situation we have
right now at sou Mountain but I was
curious as to whether or not there are
any maintenance requirements that we do
require for those that are occupying are
and maybe that's a another question not
for you Chief but for someone else to
answer for
me okay so mayor member of council we we
work with APS and SRP the utility
providers really closely Phoenix fire
department our regional Partners as well
as the State Fire folks as far as
inspections of their facilities I did
work with them on previous projects not
associated with the Wildland Urban
interface but found them to be pretty
good about inspecting their stuff and
then as it relates to things like you
know there there may be times where
fires are near the high power lines and
the carbon from the smoke can create a
significant Hazard for firefighters so
we coordinate with them very very
closely and carefully on firefighter
safety and keeping the infrastructure
going and what we need to protect and
all those things thank you my question
is for next my next question is for the
birthday
boy um
one of the sources of of frustration
with the LA fires um earlier this uh
earlier and a few months ago was the
water pressure and some of the hydrants
um water pressure I know you talk water
pressure I know you talked briefly about
that but I made some presumption that um
the pressurized zones you know what let
me let me let you expand on the pressure
on the major pressure areas for us
please right and so mayor councilwoman
hjj Washington so essentially the reason
that we talked about the pressure Zone
zones is to cause a a standardized
pressure throughout that zone right and
so at the bottom of the Zone we'll have
100 PSI of pressure of water and at the
top you'll see in the order of 40 and
then once you get to that level then we
switched into to another Zone the reason
that those are specifically targeted is
under fire conditions that then drops
the pressure with our models to around
20 psi and we think that's a a a safe
yield a safe pressure Zone that that
fter can utilize I know that they boost
off of that a lot of times and and
increase the pressure but the systems
are designed to establish that 20 psi
pressure to the fire hydrants at all
times thank you for that clarification
because I think that's one of the
concerns our community has is to ensure
that if we were faced with something of
that level we have some assurance that
we have planed for it and we have those
uh those safeguards built in so thank
you my other question was answered
already by Council Melinda's question so
I will turn it back to you mayor thank
you wonderful thank you councilwoman
store yes real quick um so we talked
about the South Mountain I think it was
in June July um I was on a baseball
field and all of a sudden my phone
started blowing up saying there's a fire
in the South Mountain and I said
really what ended up happening I called
the chief and I said Chief I think
there's a fire in South Mountain he goes
I don't think you're right Laura and I
go no I think I'm right he's like okay
let me check and then I called all my
other fire guys and it's was like he can
you check on this for me none of them at
that time knew because residents from
there were calling me and saying there
was fire then a few minutes later or 10
minutes later I don't know the time
passed and all of a sudden I get a call
and say oh you're right and I said yeah
and it's pretty it's pretty bad because
they're on they're there and they're
watching it and they're and then I'm
like okay so what do you do in this
situation so then of course they
explained it um I also understood that
they were going to allow it to burn that
they were it was being monitored and it
it was going to be allowed to burn
because it
wasn't I guess that high of risk yet and
so um and then we talked about getting
water and everything else so um so I
remember that very clearly that day and
I appreciate what what was happening
because I was being informed at this at
the at the moment in
time as we talked about fire hyrons I
really um I'm water pressure uh I know a
year ago maybe two years ago so we were
talking about our fire hydrants and
getting our fire hunr up to up to code
or up to the level that needed to be
where are we on
that mayor councilman Pastor so
essentially what the council did is in
2022 there was a backlog of fire
hydrants that we had um we got some
contracted staff um within a year as the
council directed that backlog was
eliminated and now we're maintaining and
holding that number with our staff um
the number is somewhere around 400 or
500 at all times every day we assess
fire hydrants and we find issues and
every day we're fixing them and
correcting them and things like that but
that seems to be about that stable
number somewhere less than one 1% of our
our fired hydrant total is is cannot be
used one of the unique things about our
systems and our our working with the
fire department is that information is
related to in GIS form to the fire
department right and so when they're
coming up strategizing for a fire
situation they can see if if there's
potentially a apparatus that's out of
out of service in that area and be able
to strategize what they're going to do
knowing that information versus not
knowing rolling up and not knowing if it
works or doesn't work so I want to thank
you for that I want to thank my
colleagues also for being proactive uh
we manage our water so that's one of the
difference between the California fire
um and we're very we do our due
diligence in making sure that
everybody's safe and protected so thank
you thank you and to all those folks who
emailed or called us when they we were
testing the fire hydrants to say we're
wasting water there there was a reason
but we agree we got to be very careful
with our water I think the state is
doing some Advanced detection technology
so that councilwoman pestor doesn't have
to call in fires and that we might have
more automated detection of Mountain
Park fires so I think that is something
I would be very supportive of councilman
glendel um councilwoman Kesha Hajj
Washington inspired a questioning me
what is the protocol should there be a
disaster
similar or like um Los Angeles in terms
of communicating with the mayor um or in
the mayor's absence the vice mayor and
the district council
member mayor members of council uh so
it's going to depend on which which is
the first agency there typically as I
mentioned earlier in the presentation
that the fire department takes the lead
responsibility for the fire response um
again they they won't be there by
themselves there would also be a law
enforcement component for the the other
areas that I mentioned um Emergency
Management would be there the uh fire
department chain of command would be
making uh those decisions as to uh what
they need and who needs to know about
what they're bringing in I would defer
that to to Chief Christ for uh you know
more information but if if the the
question is posed to me and I have to
actually make some notifications I would
be doing so at the direction of the
chain of command at the scene and we
would make sure that all members of of
uh uh the city the city manager Council
mayor everybody were notified in a
timely fashion but uh again it's it's
not a decision that I would make in a
vacuum and it and I think it would be
something that it would be kind of a
coordinated effort with the units on
seeing led by
fire vice
mayor thank you so much um and I
appreciate the presentation uh we I
think all we're getting lots of uh phone
calls and questions during the LA fires
and so this is important Chief Christ
you um made a comment about our fire
system and and what this could do to it
can you tell us how Phoenix works with
its surrounding um municipalities and
and what might happen in an emergency in
a
crisis absolutely mayor Geo vice mayor
O'Brien members of council the Phoenix
fire department has the automatic Aid
System and automatic Aid is different
than Mutual Aid agreements in many fire
departments across the country because
in those agreements you have to ask can
you help us the automatic Aid System is
not built that way the automatic Aid
System essentially makes all 30
municipalities that are participants in
it they function for the community like
one giant fire department and you're
probably wondering how do we do that
well we do that because all of our
firefighters go to the same Regional
training acmy and they get taught the
same stuff we use the same standard
operating procedures we use the same
communication platforms there's only two
dispatch systems and they're both
Phoenix is the larger one so we dispatch
for everybody we share our resources and
we respond the closest most appropriate
unit to the emergency regardless of
borders and we work together and I think
that's a very important piece for the
the Metro Phoenix area and the residents
of Phoenix right we are there for our
surrounding cities as they are there for
us and um being in the north part of the
valley next to um much desert I
appreciate all the fires that get fought
along i7 and and those different areas
so thank you for the work that all of
you do and for explaining this to us so
our our citizens can better understand
how Phoenix is prepared for this type of
emergency should it ever happened thank
you thank you and when I introduce this
item I said I would turn to our
assistant city manager but we have two
assistant city managers now Inger
Ericson will be serving as assistant
city manager through December of 2025
and congratulations to Inger and we're
very excited to have you with that we
are
adjourned done to date