• Supervisors Join Legislators For Opening Day
• Counties Testify At Legislature on Shortfall Management
• Appropriations Chairmen Release Budget Options
• CSA Board Signs Resolution Supporting Forest Management
• Local Governments Tackle Pubic Records Issues
• County Related Bills-CSA Agenda Shaping Up
• Next Week at the Legislature
• Calendar

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Supervisors Join Legislators For Opening Day

 

County officials from around the state were welcomed by Speaker Kirk Adams at the Legislature's Opening Day at the Capitol on Monday.

The supervisors joining legislators to kick off the 2009 session included:

• David Tenney, Navajo County
• Richard Lunt, Greenlee County
• Pete Byers, Mohave County
• Pete Rios, Pinal County
• Michael Pastor, Gila County
• Lena Fowler, Coconino County
• Jim Palmer, Graham County
• Mark Herrington, Graham County
• Matt Ryan, Coconino County
• Rudy Molera, Santa Cruz County
• Bryan Martyn, Pinal County
• Ray Carroll, Pima County
• John Maynard, Santa Cruz County
• Max Wilson, Maricopa County
• Mary Rose Wilcox, Maricopa County
• John Drum, La Paz County

Julie Ayers (Yavapai), Sandi Wilson (Maricopa), Martin Willett (Pima) and Mark Barnes (CSA) represented counties during a panel discussion at the State Senate this week. President Burns and Speaker Adams hosted the event, designed to inform legislators of local efforts to deal with the downturn of the economy. 

The panel was a great opportunity for local governments to communicate the tough management decisions they have been making over the past 18 months to address revenue shortfalls.  Actions have included hiring freezes, layoffs, across the board budget cuts and reductions in service availability.  Additionally, counties are preparing for additional tough reductions as revenues statewide appear to be continuing downward.    

Many thanks to the panel participants for such a great job representing your county and the CSA membership. 

On Thursday, JLBC staff briefed legislators regarding the basic elements of the FY09 and FY10 budget options crafted by the Appropriation Chairmen.  The details were released today and a county specific analysis will be forthcoming.  The Chairs identified $1.85 billion in options to address the estimated $1.58 billion FY09 shortfall.  They also identified options for FY10 totaling $3.03 billion, slightly over the estimated $3.01 billion shortfall.  The expectation is for the appropriations committees to sort through these items and craft a specific proposal.  A few data points from the presentation:

• State revenues are not projected to return to FY08 levels until FY12.
• Chairmen's options for FY09 are composed of fund transfers ($668 million), federal assistance ($400 million), spending changes ($758 million) and other revenue ($21 million).
• Chairmen's options for FY10 are composed of fund transfers ($360 million), federal assistance ($400 million), spending changes ($2.22 billion) and other revenue ($51 million).

Appropriations committees will consider the options next week.  Given the urgency of action this late in the fiscal year, expectations are that the FY09 budget bill will be on the new Governor's desk by the end of January. 

CSA Board Signs Resolution Supporting Comprehensive Forest Management

The CSA Board of Directors unanimously approved a resolution supporting consensus-based forest management practices at their meeting on Thursday in Phoenix. The resolution will be sent to the Office of the Governor, the US Forest Service, and Arizona's congressional delegation.

Evan Aumack, the Director of Resoration Programs for the Grand Canyon Trust, and Pascal Berlioux, President and CEO of Arizona Forest Restoration Products, Inc. brought the resolution to the board. They described the long process that stakeholders, including industry representatives, environmental groups, and members of federal, state and local governments engaged in through the Governor's Forest Health Council to reach a consensus on the resolution. Supervisor David Tenney from Navajo County said "I never thought that a resolution like this could happen, but a lot of people have put a lot of work in to this. It's groundbreaking."

Supervisor Shirley Dawson, from Gila County, called the broad stakeholder support for the resolution "a miracle" and thanked Mr. Aumack and Mr. Berlioux for thier hard work.

For a copy of the resolution, click here.

One issue that is of concern to public entities is frivolous records requests.  Many governments report instances of individuals that repeatedly request records that cover a broad scope of time and then either do not return for the data, do not take the data, or take a minor portion of the data leaving a majority behind.  Such action drains governments of resources during a time when all levels of government are marshalling their resources for more efficient use of tax-payer dollars.

The CSA Legislative Agenda for the 2009 session is taking shape.  Most House bills have been dropped, including five bills on the CSA agenda. Four measures are being slated for Senate sponsorship and are expected to be introduced early next week.  CSA staff continue to research two measures for inclusion in the legislative session.