Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

all attendees are in listen-only mode thank you and good Monday morning I'd like to call to order the informal well actually we're gonna have two meetings here today but let's start with the informal board meeting of Monday June 22nd 2026 madam clerk would you please call the roll Yes, thank you. Good morning.

Supervisor Stewart. Here. Supervisor Calvin.

Here.

Vice Chair Lesko. Here. Supervisor Gallardo. Here. Chair Brophy-McKee. Here.

With everyone in attendance, we will proceed. This morning we have two meetings which deal with the public hearings and the adoption of the final budgets for the county and the county special districts. At this meeting, we will convene the public hearings. include the truth and taxation hearings and review presentations regarding the various budgets. At the conclusion of this meeting, we will then convene a special meeting regarding the adoption of each budget where we will take action at that time. Now, please watch a video which will give you an inside look at the extensive and comprehensive process we use to create our budget.

Maricopa County is the nation's fourth most populous county and one of the most fiscally responsible governments in the United States.

We will ensure the most impactful programs and services are prioritized and your valuable precious tax dollars are not wasted.

With a staff-to-population ratio of 3.05 employees to 1,000 residents, we boast one of the lowest staff-to-population ratios among large counties nationwide. Our organization runs efficiently, providing critical state-mandated services to more than 4.5 million residents. These services require proper funding, and that's the job of the elected board of supervisors.

As Maricopa County grows by leaps and bounds, I believe our responsibilities grows as well.

Every December, the Office of Budget and Finance briefs county leadership on expected revenues and potential budget challenges. Departments are given baseline budgets. Any requests above baseline have to be justified. In January, elected offices and appointed departments that report to the county manager present their budget requests and priorities to the Board of Supervisors at a public meeting. All requests are evaluated in the context of available resources and board priorities. The goal is always a structurally balanced budget with contingencies in place for unanticipated events. By April, budget recommendations are finalized and in May, the Board of Supervisors approves a tentative budget for the coming fiscal year. All those in favor will say aye.

Aye.

Which starts on July 1st. In May and June, members of the public are invited to comment on the tentative budget. Final adjustments are presented in a public meeting in June before the board votes to adopt a final budget, which is posted online for residents to see. Historically, Maricopa County receives 11 cents of every dollar paid in property taxes. with most property taxes going to local school districts. The board does not control property values, but it does set the rate at which property is taxed, and board members have prioritized lowering the property tax rate in each of the last six years. Budget approval means funds are available for the services citizens need every day. In fiscal year 2027, nearly half the budget is invested in public safety.

Government's number one duty, whether it be at the local level, county level, state level, or federal level, is to protect its citizens.

The board is also facing the eviction crisis head on, launching an eviction prevention pilot program.

In the coming year, I'm asking Maricopa County staff to coordinate at the city and county levels so more families can stay in their homes.

Maricopa County is revitalizing a partnership that will expand and expedite court-ordered mental health treatment.

We can better ensure timely access to care for people during the greatest time of need.

And the board is making major infrastructure investments in 2027, including a brand new tabulation and election center.

Our election facility needs to grow with the growth of our county space for our workers, the workers that we have now, but also allow us to hire more workers and have more volunteers. And that means that when more people are working in a building, we'll get through election results faster, but still do it in a safe, transparent manner.

as well as an animal shel to accommodate population good knowing we're a gov and beyond to help people that I was with, he knew trainers actually cared actually fit my resume to for our heat relief progr Maricopa County.

I think

those heat-related deaths decreasing because people aren't having to walk to the centers.

So while the budget process may take a while and budget documents may be heavy on the numbers, know what we're doing is really all about you. Getting you the services you need at a reasonable cost.

If we're able to do more with less, we are keeping pace with the population growth, but at the same time getting economies of scale.

That's why Maricopa County is seen as one of the most responsible large governments in the country. A commitment we intend to keep as we build a stronger Maricopa County.

My promise to you is that we will maintain that strong fiscal position. We will protect our taxpayers and we will meet service demands regardless of what comes our way. Thank you all for watching that video. I am extremely honored and delighted to call our budget people forward, Mike McGee, Chief Financial Officer, and Kirsten Prindle, Deputy Budget Director. I cannot thank you both enough and your entire department for the amazing work that you did on this budget while you're being seated. I also wanted to say that as chair, I am so grateful for the insights that you provided into how you do this budget. Back actually when I was on the campaign trail I came in and visited county manager Pekorski candidates are welcome to do that and I started digging into the budget and then also on the website the transparency from all the governments I've worked with is second to none and your efforts to serve the taxpayer and maintain the county services level is I'd really like to applaud it. At this time, we will convene the public hearings for the Maricopa County budget. Mr. McGee, Ms. Prindle, please. Don't forget to turn on your mics.

All right. Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the board. My name is Mike McGee. I'm the chief financial officer for the county. And with me here is Kirsten Prindle, deputy budget director. And I do want to say that The communications team did a great job on the video. I know there were a lot of highlights in there. I wanted to start out by mentioning a few other highlights that I think are important. One is that this budget provides a lot of flexibility to navigate economic surprises such as potential downturns or unanticipated costs. It also invests in capital and infrastructure such as the animal care, shelter, and the elections facilities that was mentioned in the video. It reduces the overall number of positions by 61 positions. And the increase in the overall budget is primarily due to the increase in capital project spending. In fact, such as the projects mentioned in the video, if we were to subtract out those increases, our overall budget would have gone down. But I think it's important to make sure that we invest in capital. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Kirsten to go through the final budget presentation. So, Kirsten.

Thank you. This slide illustrates the shift of funding from contingency to county attorney and public health for the mental health pilot program, totaling $809,000. If you remember from our tentative budget presentation, the funding was originally set aside in contingency until the details of the pilot program were finalized. We set aside funding to cover two years of the pilot and will provide the remainder of the funding in fiscal year 28. The pilot program is expected to start at the end of July, and county attorney and public defense have started recruiting for attorneys now. The other component of this pilot was approved in the tentative budget to allow Superior Court to create judge pro tems at ITR to be able to shift an existing judicial officer for this program. The combined tax rate for fiscal year 27 is 1.3353, which is an overall reduction from the fiscal year 26 rate. Over the past six years, the board has reduced the combined tax rate by 30 cents or 18.4%. The primary property tax rate for fiscal year 27 is 1.1463, a historically low rate that is down from 1.4009 seven years ago. The board does not control property values. Arizona property owners are taxed on the limited property value, which an increase each year by 5% or the full cash value, whichever is lower. This may result in higher property taxes for homeowners. The Board will be voting on a property tax levy increase today for the primary and secondary property tax levies since we are not taxing at the Truth in Taxation rate. The Board has continued to set the tax rate below the maximum allowable levy. In FY27, the primary property tax levy is $278.4 million below the maximum levy and our tax rate is 43 cents below the maximum allowable rate. This illustrates the board's continued dedication to conservatively setting the tax rate. Our office did some benchmarking to compare Maricopa County to the state and the same local governments as we did at last year's presentation. On this slide, we compared the average property tax levy growth for fiscal years 22 through 26. Maricopa County had the lowest property tax levy growth at 1.88%. Last year, our growth was second to last. Our property tax levy growth is primarily attributed to new property as we have been one of the fastest growing counties in the country. Jim Rounds presented with us last year for the adopted presentation and included the slide that compares the spending per person for the seven largest counties. We asked if he could update the slide for this year to still include as part of our presentation using fiscal year 26 budget data, since not all jurisdictions have adopted their fiscal year 27 budget yet. This slide is a great illustration of the county's continued conservative and efficient spending. Maricopa County now has the lowest spending per person, which was Harris County for the past two years. We also compared general fund spending for the seven counties and Maricopa County is also the lowest at $513.48 per person. The last item that we benchmarked against other governments is the average staff per 1,000 residents from fiscal year 22 through 26. As you can see, Maricopa County has one of the lowest staff to population ratios at 3.3 employees per 1,000 residents. For this comparison, we did include the library and flood control district to align with how the other entities presented their positions. But as a reminder from the previous presentation, the fiscal year 27 Maricopa County only staff to population ratio is 3.05. This is the lowest staff to population ratio the county has had in at least the last 15 years. That is the conclusion of our presentation on the Maricopa County final adopted budget. The final upcoming item on our budget calendar is the property tax levy adoption on Monday, August 17th. We would like to thank the chair, the board members, and the county manager for their dedication and support this year finalizing the fiscal year 2027 budget. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there questions from board members, comments? I think we're good.

Vice Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to say thank you to our budget staff. You always impress me with your abilities and talking to the different departments and finding out where we can save money. I am happy that we once again decreased the overall tax rate, property tax rate. And so being a fiscal conservative, I'm very pleased about that. Madam Chair, I would like to take a moment to introduce my new intern for the summer. Her name is Olivia, and she's sitting right there. Olivia, why don't you stand up? And Olivia, I've been told, is doing an excellent job. And so thank you for being here, Olivia. And I yield back.

Welcome aboard. And thank you for your comments, Vice Chair. Please proceed. Oh, I thought we were going through the rest of the PowerPoint.

No, we are not.

Madam Clerk, are there any speaker slips? Madam Chair, we have none. Okay, any emails? No emails. Okay. Now we move on to the next item, Maricopa County Truth in Taxation Motion to Levy. Madam Vice Chair, is there a motion?

Yes. Madam Chair, I move that we approve the proposed primary tax levy increase of $16,463,705 and direct the clerk of the board to send the appropriate documents to the Property Tax Oversight Commission.

Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. Is there a second?

Second.

Okay, it's been moved and seconded. This does require a roll call vote of the board. Madam Clerk, please.

Thank you. Supervisor Stewart?

Aye.

Supervisor Galvin?

Madam Chair, may I explain my vote now? Please. Okay, thank you. First of all, thank you to our budget team for another amazing year of helping us shepherd through this budget process, which is not easy, but as we can see also in the great video from Jesse and the communications team, that it's a very long and lengthy process. For our intern who's here, this is an empty room, which is an attestment to the fact that there's basically no controversy here. And when I mean no controversy in terms of no animated debate over what we're doing here, this is a policy call for us as a board of supervisors, but I think it's a reflection of your team that this board has been able to follow and accomplish its goals and its mission, which is, I always say, don't spend more than what you bring in. And the fact that we're able to provide services under the leadership of our county manager, Jen Prakorski, it's just fantastic. I wish members of the media were here former supervisor Hickman always used to ask how many people are watching online but I think I already know the answer and so I'm also proud of this board because this board is continuing the legacy of previous members of the board but all five of us have a commitment to fiscal responsibility and to conservative government when I say conservative with a small C in terms of that we're not reckless we're not unrealistic at the same time We're sober in our thinking and analysis, but it's because you guys provide us the information. And I want to particularly highlight, Madam Chair, our amazing and terrific budget team, because every single time I have questions, I know you guys are always able to provide information as quickly and possibly as fast as you can. But at the same time, I always know the information that you provide is good information that I can rely on. And these charts are very good and illustrative. It's really hard to boil down a $4 billion budget in a few PowerPoint slides, but you guys do it in a terrific way to show that Maricopa County cares about its residents, cares about tax dollars, but at the same time cares about its mission. And so my final comment, Madam Chair, is just to thank our thousands of employees across Maricopa County who are probably super busy right now and not watching this hearing, but we do this for them as well because they're working on our behalf and engaging every single day with our constituents. So I'm very proud once again to vote for this budget, but all proud of the five members of this board because this is our second budget together. And Madam Chair, thank you for your leadership as well. So I vote aye.

Vice Chair Lesko. Aye. Supervisor Gallardo. Aye. Chair Berltham-Magee.

Aye.

There's a unanimous roll call vote with five ayes.

Thank, excuse me. Thank you, Madam Clerk. We will now recess as the Board of Supervisors and convene as directors of the Flood Control District of Maricopa County and convene the public hearing regarding the Flood Control District budget. Kirsten Brindle, would you please proceed?

Yes. The Flood Control District's final budget is $121.8 million with no changes from the tentative budget. The proposed tax rate is flat from the prior year at .1428. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there questions from board members? Hearing none, let me tell you, flood control is big in my district. It's super, super important. So thank you to our flood control folks. Madam Clerk, do we have any speaker slips regarding the flood control district? Madam Chair, none were received. Okay. We will now move on to consideration of item four, flood control district truth and taxation motion to levy. Madam Vice Chair, do you have a motion, please?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that we approve the proposed secondary tax levy increase of $3,665,007 Direct the clerk to send the appropriate documents to the property tax Oversight Commission Thank you.

Is there a second second? It's been moved and seconded This action does require a roll call vote of the board. Madam clerk. Would you please proceed? Supervisor Stewart.

Yes Supervisor Galvin. All right vice chair. Let's go. I Supervisor Gallardo. All right chair. Brophy Mickey. All right That's the unanimous roll call vote with five ayes.

Thank you. We will now adjourn as the directors of the flood control district in Maricopa County and convene as the library district board of directors and convene the public hearing regarding the library district budget. Kirsten Prindle, please proceed.

The library district's final budget is $46 million with no changes from the tentative budget. The proposed tax rate is flat from the prior year at .0462. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Brindle. Madam Clerk, do we have any speaker slips regarding the Library District? Madam Clerk, I'm sorry, Madam Chair, we have none. Thank you. If not, we will then consider Item 6, Library District Truth in Taxation. Madam Vice Chair, is there a motion, please?

Yes, Madam Chair. I move that we approve the proposed secondary tax levy increase of $1,005,417 and direct the clerk to send the appropriate documents to the Property Tax Oversight Commission.

Thank you. Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded. This action does require a roll call vote of the board.

Madam Clerk. Supervisor Stewart? Aye. Supervisor Galvin?

Aye.

Vice Chair Lesko? Aye. Supervisor Gallardo? Aye. Chair Proffi-McGee? Aye. That is a unanimous roll call vote with five ayes.

Thank you very much. We will now adjourn as the Library District Board of Directors and convene as the directors of the various county improvement districts and convene the public hearing for all of the districts and their respective budgets. And Madam Clerk, or do we go to Kristen?

Madam Chair, I understand there is no presentation for improvement district. I do not have any speaker slips for this item.

Excellent. It signals to me that people get what they're doing and they're in approval. We will move on to the next agenda item and I will commence by adjourning this meeting and proceeding to our special meeting. which is in another binder. And now we will convene the special meeting