QUESTIONS FOR STATE MUNICIPALITIES ABOUT THEIR FINANCES

posted by Michael Chihak

Friday's edition of Arizona Week on KUAT-TV, Channel 6, will focus on how Arizona's cities and towns are doing financially in the face of slow recovery from the recession.

Up for interviews are Avondale Mayor Marie Lopez Rogers, whose city of nearly 80,000 residents is a western suburb of Phoenix, and Ken Strobeck, who is executive director of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, based in Phoenix and representing the state's 91 incorporated municipalities.

Among questions for Rogers and Strobeck:

• Please give an update on how the state's municipalities are doing financially.

• Have cities and towns gone through their rainy day funds the way the state did, or do they have something in reserve?

• The state passes along to the cities and towns about $800 million a year in income tax, sales tax and other tax and fee revenues. Do you expect that to continue in the coming fiscal year?

• Cities and towns are, in fact, are in line for some cuts, a little under $20 million total, from the state Department of Water Resources and the Highway User Revenue Fund. What impact will they have on municipalities?

• Governor Brewer and the Legislature are counting on a federal waiver on the state Medicaid program to balance the budget. At more than a half-billion dollars, it’s the biggest single chunk of savings. Are the state's municipalities worried about what happens if the state doesn’t get the waiver?

• Some Arizona cities, Phoenix notably, are using federal grant money to shore up their budgets. Are others doing likewise, and is that wise given the budget cutting mood in Washington and the possibility that such grants won't be renewed?