Yuma County budget proposes tax increase, stable staffing, strategic investments

Yuma County residents will see a 2.42-cent property-tax increase in a $535.6 million budget proposal that keeps the workforce flat, protects day-to-day services and funds new space for public safety and county operations.

County Administrator Ian McGaughey will present the FY 2026/27 Recommended Budget at a special Board of Supervisors session at 9 a.m. Monday at the E.F. Sanguinetti Auditorium, 197 S. Main Street in Yuma. The proposal is the first to come out of the county’s new Five-Year Planning initiative, which links department goals, risk management and long-term strategy.

County leaders are framing the plan as a balancing act: maintain services, hold the line on staffing, and invest in facilities without letting the budget expand too quickly. Total appropriations would fall 3% from the current budget, even as the plan includes a 3% pay-scale adjustment and a 3% performance-based increase for employees. The county is also proposing no net increase in total workforce.

The tax change is designed to partially restore the 8.76-cent General Fund reduction adopted in FY 2023/24. Even with the proposed increase, county officials say the levy would stay below the allowable limit for the 15th consecutive year. The projected year-end General Fund balance would land at about 24.26% of total uses, above the county’s 20% policy target, and the budget would set aside $5 million as a recession contingency.

The biggest visible investments are in county buildings and public safety infrastructure. The plan includes money for expanded facilities for the county ITS and Facilities Management building, completion of the Sheriff’s Office Foothills Substation expansion, and the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension building. Those projects are the kind of capital work residents are more likely to notice than line items on a spreadsheet, because they shape how quickly county offices can serve the public and how well public-safety operations can grow in places like Foothills and South County.

The proposal also fits into Yuma County’s FY 2025-2029 Strategic Plan, which took effect July 1, 2024, and centers on customer service, health and safety, responsible resource management, operational advances, economic development and infrastructure. Last year’s adopted budget totaled $552 million, after an earlier tentative plan reached $584.4 million, and county leaders kept the property-tax rate unchanged while preserving a 3% employee raise. Monday’s hearing will show how much room remains for residents to weigh in before the county locks in its next round of spending choices.