BY LINDA BENTLEY | jUNE 8, 2011
Sworn in and ready to budget
CAVE CREEK – Town Clerk Carrie Dyrek swore in each council member in alphabetical order at the beginning of Monday’s council meeting beginning with Shelley Anderson, who previously served on the planning commission.
After Councilman Thomas McGuire was sworn in, he grinned and held up an Ace of Hearts.
Readers may remember McGuire lost his last bid for reelection to council after he and former Councilman Adam Trenk tied and McGuire lost in a card draw that decided the election.
McGuire displayed the Ace of Hearts from a pack of cards given to him by Cave Creek Magistrate George Preston, which Preston used in the card drawing two years ago. Preston wrote on pack of cards, “Welcome back. You may burn this gift.”
With no other nominations, Councilman Steve LaMar’s nomination of Ernie Bunch to resume the post of vice mayor was unanimously affirmed.
Then, without missing a beat, Town Accountant Marian Groeneveld dove right in with her presentation of the $22.4 million tentative budget for Fiscal Year 2011-2012, which was unanimously adopted by council.
Groeneveld said the adoption of the tentative budget places a cap on expenditures while allowing movement between line items.
She provided the timeline for public hearings in the budget adoption process, and announced the next public hearing for the budget adoption/tax levy will be on July 18, where each department head will make presentations to council, with the second reading on Aug. 1.
According to Groeneveld, sales tax revenue has been “pretty consistent with last year,” as she displayed sales tax trends for the past decade.
On a high note, Groeneveld enthusiastically announced this will be the final year of property tax for Spur Cross Conservation Area, which will be paid off this year.
