Phoenix plans to use extra coronavirus relief funds to balance budget
Oct 13, 2020, 4:25 AM | Updated: 10:05 am
(Facebook Photo/City of Phoenix, AZ USA)
(Facebook Photo/City of Phoenix, AZ USA)
PHOENIX — The City of Phoenix will provide an update Tuesday on the city’s budget results, which will reflect utilizing the remaining coronavirus relief funds the city has saved.
“We’re cautiously optimistic about how things are progressing here in Phoenix,” Deputy Phoenix City Manager Jeff Barton told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Monday. “A lot of that is based on the fact that our council was very methodical and they allowed us to take a very measured approach in navigating COVID.”
Overall, the city’s budget exceeded estimates by approximately $55.7 million, which doesn’t include $48.5 million that came from the general fund.
The city received $293 million from the coronavirus relief fund when the federal relief bill was passed.
In May, the Phoenix City Council approved a strategic plan that allocated $150 million of $293 million in available federal coronavirus aid and relief. At that time, the city reserved the remaining $143 million in a rainy-day fund in the event they were hit hard again by COVID-19.
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“We saw what COVID was doing very early to our economy, finances and tax revenue, so what we did early on in the budget process was try to not overreact,” Barton said.
Barton described the budget process as “flying blind”, as nobody knew how long coronavirus would to impact the economy. Their goal was to not cut or impact services and programs before they had to.
With a recent green light from the federal government, Phoenix is now able to balance their budget with the additional coronavirus relief dollars they saved.
The City Council approved using the reserved $143 million to offset public safety salaries in order to preserve important community programs in other areas.
“By doing that we were able to offset those costs in the general fund and that prevented us from having to make any cuts to services, programs, or employee compensation,” Barton said.
Barton noted there are areas where the city fell short but overall, there was positive revenue growth in the city.
