By Barbara Ashley, Financial Services Director
Sedona AZ (January 8, 2013) – With the beginning of the New Year comes the renewal of business licenses for all businesses operating within City limits. The annual business license fee is $25.00 per business. Renewal notices were mailed by Revenue Discovery Systems (RDS) to all businesses on file. For additional information on how to obtain a business license, please visit: www.revds.com. A modified version of the City of Sedona’s business license database is available on the City’s website under the Finance department pages. www.SedonaAZ.gov.
As of February 2012, the City requires service delivery applications/agreements and deposits for the City’s wastewater (sewer) services. Establishment of a new wastewater account requires a $25.00 non-refundable administration fee. This administrative fee is applicable to all new or transferring wastewater customers. In addition to the administrative fee, a deposit of up to $250 will be required to transfer or establish services on residential rental properties. Upon termination of the sewer account, the deposit will be applied to the final bill or refunded to the customer. The property owner and tenant must complete and sign the application.
The Financial Services department has completed the annual audit of fiscal year, 2012. The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for fiscal year 2012 has been submitted to the Government Finance Officer’s Association for review and participation in the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Program. The Financial Services department received this award for fiscal year 2011 and for the past 12 prior years of submission. Staff is confident that the City will be recognized again for fiscal year 2012.
This time of year also brings about the budget kick-off process for fiscal year 2013/2014. This process began with the City Council meeting in December 2012 to discuss budget priorities and goals of the City. The City Manager’s and Financial Services departments work collaboratively with all other departments to create and submit a proposed operating budget as well as a ten year capital improvement program to City Council for approval in mid to late April. The operating budget contains the City’s day to day expenses for providing various City services. Each department develops their line item budget requests annually, which include things like wages for City staff, commodities purchases and contractual services.
The Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) planning process is the process by which the City designs a multi-year blueprint for major capital expenditures. The purpose of the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) is to systematically identify, plan, schedule, finance, track and monitor large capital projects, such as drainage improvements, and streets. The CIP will span a ten year time frame.
The development of both the operating budget and the CIP will include extensive public input processes which include a series of public meetings to obtain citizen input on the budget proposals, as well as the posting of various draft budget documents on the City’s website. These processes culminate in the development of a tentative budget which is then submitted via a public hearing/meeting in May with budget finalization and a subsequent public hearing/meeting in June to adopt the final budget. The City’s fiscal year is July 1 – June 30.
Providing excellent customer service is a top priority for the City of Sedona Financial Services Department. We seek feedback from our citizens about improvements that they think are valuable to improving the Financial Services Department’s performance. If you have suggestions for improvement, please contact us at (928) 204-7185. The Financial Services Department is open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Thank you for your support and participation with your local government! We look forward to servicing the citizens of Sedona in 2013!