Page City Council has approved a preliminary budget for fiscal year 2023-2024. The city estimates $64,884,075 in expenses and $62,873,120 in revenue.

City Manager Darren Coldwell told the Chronicle he expects the city will exceed revenue projections based on a strong tourism rebound.

“We projected, in sales tax revenue this year, $14 million,” Coldwell said. “We're going to surpass $14 million in this quarter. So the $14 million is very conservative. I wouldn't be surprised if it surpasses $15 million.”

The City of Page is sitting comfortably in the black with $45,610,999 in total funds, including nearly $10 million in the Emergency Reserve Fund. The funds cover a wide range of city services and enterprise funds, like the Page Municipal Airport, Lake Powell National Golf Course and Horseshoe Bend parking and facilities. 

“We're going to stay in the black,” Coldwell said. “We’re spending $1,250,000 over what we had in the starting balance. But that’s not bad. That tax revenue is collected with the concept that it's going to be spent. The city is not meant to have a savings account. It’s meant to have money in, money out.”

At the City Council meeting on May 24, counselor Brian Carey applauded Coldwell and city staff for the work they’ve done on the budget, as well as post-pandemic accomplishments.

“This budget reflects that the city is past COVID,” Carey said. “It is in a new environment in terms of our recreational offerings that continue to expand. We have staff that’s dedicated to communicating our city's values and wonderful opportunities.”

Carey highlighted new additions and improvements benefiting the community, including the Red Mesa bike trail, a splash pad at the Sports Complex Annex, Elm Street Fitness Park, the clubhouse expansion at the golf course to better accommodate special events, and the upcoming first phase of the streetscape project. Improvements are also in the works for the skate park and better LED lighting for the sports complex and basketball court. 

Notably, the new budget reflects a greater emphasis on community quality of life. In the past, the focus was weighted toward tourism development. Indirectly, the shift in focus also benefits tourism. 

According to Samantha Bray, managing director of the Center for Responsible Travel, “a healthy and happy community is needed to support a healthy and happy tourism industry long-term.”

“For too long, tourism development in the name of financial benefit for a few has occurred at the expense of the people who actually spend every day in a place,” Bray said. “Their natural and cultural assets, and even their very neighborhoods, become commodified to the point where the community itself cannot enjoy them. Their fundamental ways of life are degraded in the name of more people, more money, more tourism.”

Coldwell told the Chronicle, “All of this stuff that we are doing, it was a priority for the council to improve things for the residents.” 

Priorities change with each council. For the current council, Coldwell said, “Security and safety has become a priority for them. Recreation has become a priority for them. And when I say recreation, not for the kid that’s playing Little League or the soccer lessons. There’s been a new push to create facilities that all generations can use, like the workout station over on Elm Street. The improvements to the Rim Trail, widening it and making it less hazardous for people, not as hard so that you can find areas that anybody can walk. And then improvements to the golf course and to the pickle ball courts with the lighting and that kind of stuff. Just a different focus.”

Coldwell also recognizes the accomplishments of past councils. 

“We would not be able to do this if past councils hadn't made a priority to pay off debt,” he said. “Page is so lucky that councils, prior to this council, their focus was to become debt free. Which means all this money we collect now, we can do in improvements because we're not burdened like other communities are with this huge debt.”

Coldwell added, “One thing, too that the current council looked at when they looked at the rec center and swimming pool: Is this something that we maybe want to make not as grandiose and something that we can pay cash for so that we don’t burden ourselves for the next 30 years or burden the taxpayer?”

Carey, emphasizing the accomplishments of the council and city staff, said, “[The] only two things a city has to provide in Arizona is police and roads. The rest is all extra.” 

Coldwell echoed Carey’s statement. 

“The only thing that the city actually has to do is provide security for its citizens,” Coldwell said. “But, I mean, the expectation from the citizens is a lot more than that. They expect their parks, and they expect a lot of stuff, but the councils prior to us didn’t have the luxury to be able to even create a capital improvement program because there wasn’t money. I mean, all the money that they took in, they spent on debt. So that debt was paid off a couple of years ago. And so now money actually starts to grow, and we can start to do some things.”

A public hearing for the 2023-2024 budget is scheduled for June 28. The City Council is required by the State of Arizona to adopt a budget by the third Monday in July of each fiscal year.