2020 MAYORAL CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE When sworn in as Mayor of Flagstaff, the City will be roughly six months into its 2020-2021 fiscal year. To date, the current City budget has been negatively impacted by COVID19, and will likely be more largely impacted over coming months with continued business operation restrictions, and reduced travel. What is your understanding of the current City budget and impacts to the City’s budget from COVID19? Assuming there are budget shortfalls, how will you as Mayor of Flagstaff address these shortfalls? CO: From my understanding the city is in good shape financially as we ended last fiscal year in the black, even with COVID. If we don’t get into a position of revenue growth, the only option is continued cuts. Unlike the county we did not and will not raise taxes in time of COVID. City Manager Greg Clifton has been very proactive since November last year concerning the budget. PD: My understanding of the budget is that since 2017-2018 the city has seen a decline and then a flattening in sales tax revenue. For FY 2020-2021, the city is forecasting an overall decline in revenues of about 6.4%. This revenue drop will mean the city will have to make cuts. COVID-19 has caused a big drop in economic activity during the stay at home order, which has negatively impacted the city’s economy. Fortunately, in the Fall of 2019 city staff formulated a recession plan to enable the city to more quickly offset revenue declines during an economic downturn with cost-cutting measures. The Council adopted and implemented it in April 2020. The city is now in the ‘significant’ stage of the plan. As Mayor, I will advocate that the Council address budget shortfalls by looking closely at what the city can live without. For example, the city should critically analyze existing consulting contracts and think very carefully about entering into new ones. I will advocate that the focus be on eliminating those expenses that are not directly related to providing that basic services that the taxpayers want and expect. Professionally, as a government analyst, I have been through three major budget cuts and institution-wide transformations where I helped figure out how to create greater efficiencies with a fine-tooth comb. It’s back to basics for now at the City. That’s what it will take to maintain essential services for the community.
What are the key economic drivers in Flagstaff, and what’s important to you when you think about jobs and the local Flagstaff economy? CO: The key economic driver that the city has been relying on is tourism. While tourism is extremely important, with COVID we have learned we need to diversify our economy. To get there, the city will be partnering with a master developer to take 30 acres of city owned property at the airport for a business community development to diversify economy with more medical related business and manufacturing. PD: Tourism/outdoor recreation, education, healthcare, and biotechnology are the fundamental economic drivers in Flagstaff. We must continue to promote these industries, but this economic model has left Flagstaff vulnerable to economic downturns. We should learn from the impacts of the pandemic by looking at what industries continue to expand amidst the crisis. We have a strong, qualified labor force in computing and data science, industries that continue to expand even during recession. I think the city should focus its energy and resources on this sector of the economy to balance the current emphasis on more volatile segments of the economy like tourism.
What are your thoughts on housing in Flagstaff? What concerns, and solutions do you have regarding housing within the City limits? CO: Housing is a huge issue for Flagstaff and always has been. It is a supply and demand issue. We are a very attractive community to live in. My solutions are an all above approach. We have to bring dollars to the table for infrastructure, hopefully the City would receive some affordable units in exchange, to continue are work with accessory dwelling units the residential property owner to get rental income, and right now we are getting ready to put out a Request For Proposal to with a private entity to do a redevelopment of city owned and managed properties. PD: We are seeing a lot of new construction now with new home prices out of reach for many. It’s disconcerting to me that the City Council still has not looked at amending the 2010 Incentive Policy for Affordable Housing. This policy is not working as intended because developers are, for the most part, not taking advantage of the incentives. In 2018, Vintage Partners asked for a $1.6 million rebate in engineering fees for Timber Sky, a request that was outside the parameters of the incentive policy. Council granted the request. At the time, staff recommended that Council re-examine the policy if it decided to grant the request but council still has not acted. It’s quite clear that the most important thing the city can do is to come up with more effective incentives so we bring the housing development community to the table. The city and the development community should work together to find solutions to the housing challenges in Flagstaff. I don’t think the taxpayers can or should be expected to provide all of the solutions.
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7000ft | AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020 | VOL 7, ISSUE 7 | GREATER FLAGSTAFF CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
