Phoenix Budget Gets OK

A $1 billion budget for fiscal 2013 proposed by Phoenix City Manager David Cavazos received preliminary approval last week from the City Council.

A final hearing on the spending plan is set for June 19, when the council is expected to adopt a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Cavazos restored $6 million for programs that have been reduced in recent budgets due to revenue declines.

The budget also begins the restoration of a 3.2% pay cut to some employees that union leaders accepted in 2010 to prevent layoffs from the revenue shortfall. The budget calls for a 1.6% increase in fiscal 2013 and a 1.6% increase in fiscal 2014 or 2015.

The plan retains the March 2015 expiration of the city’s 2% food tax, which some council members wanted to move up to an earlier date.

Cavazos said the tax generates $2.2 million a month. It was levied in 2010 as part of a larger effort to reduce an estimated $277 million shortfall in fiscal 2011.

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Arizona
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