By Sedona City Council Member Pete Furman
Sedona, AZ — I have been on the Sedona City Council since 2022, and I know that budgeting is a very complex process in Sedona. I believe a well-structured city budget is essential to keep city services running at optimal levels while continuing to help fund the library, the recycling center, and many other community-serving nonprofits. Setting the budget involves every city department, staff, the city manager, the finance director, the council, the mayor, a citizens’ budget committee, and several public hearings. It takes many months to complete. And many say it’s a mind-numbing experience.
The process we follow is enabled by Home Rule. Full disclosure: I am a proponent of Home Rule, but this is not pro v con piece, it’s just an analysis of what might be. As always, I’m speaking only for myself, not for the Council or city staff.
In my view, Home Rule is a mechanism whereby the voters grant the city the privilege of setting an upper bound on spending through its annual budget process. One aspect that I believe makes Home Rule the best tool is that it requires voter renewal on a four-year cycle. This requires the city to justify its past performance and demonstrate an ongoing commitment to good fiscal stewardship, with the voters serving as judges.
Opponents of Home Rule, often unhappy with various spending or policy decisions spanning years, launch efforts to end it. I understand they want a reset – to apply pressure to projects and policies and to enforce a level of fiscal discipline they think is lost.
When these arguments occur, some voices insist that voting Home Rule down doesn’t have to affect the city’s nonprofits or the things residents love, like our parks and the community pool – that we can live within the state-set spending limit. They insist the city uses scare tactics to encourage voters to renew Home Rule.
While it’s true that Council could choose differently, there are laws and mandates from the state that require a city to provide certain things. If money is left over after the mandates, community amenities and nonprofits can be funded. But if Home Rule is voted down and the city is forced under what’s called the state-imposed expenditure limit, there is very little money to work with.
I wanted to put those claims to a test: is it possible to create a budget that funds the nonprofits and keeps the city running at satisfactory levels if Home Rule were defeated? I called it the Skinny Chicken budget. So I spent my Fourth of July weekend, armed with Sedona’s FY2026-27 adopted budget and an AI assistant (Claude), to see what I could do.
Spoiler: it took three tries – and the version that technically complies has bad news – we had to cut the police department by 72%.
To be clear: I don’t support any of these budgets. This was a personal exercise to test what’s actually possible – I’m speaking only for myself, not the Council or city staff. It’s also a ‘wounded duck’, because its likely we’ll all start talking about a one-time budget override and/or a PBA if Home Rule fails.
The full analysis, with every number sourced from city documents, is on my website: https://sedonapete.com/2026/07/05/1759/
4 Comments
I’ve learned of one correction to the text – Police services must be provided by an Arizona city. Contacting out is allowed. Luckily all my attempts retained some funding for police. Public safety is job #1.
Sedona PD should have at a minimum of 50 fully trained patrol ready officers on the payroll at all times. At least 10 officers, including a highly trained highly experienced shift supervisor should be out on patrol on every shift and even that is bare bones minimum for a town the size of Sedona. Mutual Aid agreements do provide force multipliers during critical incidents but they take time to rally and deploy and most critical incidents are resolved long before they can even rally. They (Sedona PD Officers) should all have a variety of less lethal weapons with them on Patrol not just tasers which can and do kill many people especially those with heart conditions and the elderly. Sedona seems to rely very heavily upon Mutual Aid pacts while neglecting the number of officers it should actually have. mutual Aid agreements are fantastic except when there are multiple incidents occurring separately but simultaneously in all the jurisdictions involved which can and does happen. Just a casual observation.
Pete Excluding the critical element of the process is NOT acceptable.
The current City Council is ignoring the process and the flow chart. It is a simple process when home rule fails July 21st 2026. We are funded with home rule until June 30th, 2027.
In May, it is the City Council’s fiduciary responsibility to present a clear one-time annual override for the voters. It should be revenue driven. This one-time annual override should include 100% funding for the 2 municipality services. services which are wastewater and the police department. Complete funding for the police department should be included. Plus, all the other things, Sedona loves.
Using scare tactics and telling the residents that that’s not an option, simply not listing it is not acceptable. For a Council person to claim that the on-time annual override is too difficult is totally ridiculous. They should resign.
This is the legacy this current City Council is leaving. Scaremongering, partisan politics, suing the residents, lying and spurring hate. Their social media activity is well documented. Each and every one that has done this should be ASHAMED.
In response to your excuse on next door:
Pete, Then you should step down. You are clearly not able to manage or navigate through a standard process.
Vice Mayor and City council person Sheri Graham dealt with a NO on Home Rule in 1994. totally professional No doomsday. No disasters. Everything was funded. This was great. Tourism was fabulous. We never heard any partisan or elected officials whining.
Vote NO on home rule proposition 400.
Vote YES to proposition 403 preserve the Culture Park.
VOTE in Sedona residence first slate.
Henry Silbiger for Mayor Lita A Boyd, Rich Gay, Jean Buillet, for City Council
These are the candidates that will work hard for the residents.
Opposition to Home Rule wreaks of desperation.