By Dallin Kimble, Prescott City Manager
It has been my privilege to serve as city manager in the City of Prescott for three great months. My first impression is pure delight. I’ve been so impressed with the kindness of many of the people I have met here, the incredible staff who deliver our city services, and, of course, the beauty and accessibility of the nature that surrounds us. As I continue to learn and work with you and for you, through your elected mayor and city council, I’d love to share more about your city government in regular articles like this one.
One of the things that attracted me to Prescott is the commitment to good governance. The Government Finance Officer’s Association has recognized Prescott with a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting, for 42 consecutive years, and a Distinguished Budget Presentation for the past 22 years in a row. The City’s strategic plan expands this commitment with direction for the city to become a community-focused and performance-driven organization.
As part of implementing the direction in the strategic plan, the City has acquired a new software that will provide an unprecedented level of financial and budgeting transparency. The software is called OpenGov and it was approved by the city council on July 9 of this year.
When OpenGov is up and running in the spring, members of the public will be able to see the city’s financial information online in real time. So, if you’re curious about how much the city has spent to date on, say, public safety facilities, you’ll be able to find it on your phone while you’re standing in line at the grocery store or waiting for a haircut. If you want to know if the city has spent more or less on road repairs this year, you’ll be able to access this online. We’ll also use OpenGov for capital budget planning, budget reporting, and e-procurement, which will help us be efficient with our time and taxpayer dollars.
With City expenditures and financial data available for public review online, we will introduce a dramatic enhancement to our accountability for how taxpayer dollars are spent. OpenGov will also report on the progress of the City’s strategic plan and link budget and other performance measures. We will be able to highlight key areas of community interest and provide the information in a simple and easily digestible way.
If approved, Proposition 478, the Dedicated Public Safety Privilege (Sales) Tax, will demonstrate a prime use for OpenGov. Tax revenues collected under Proposition 478 will be tracked in their own line item so everyone can see exactly how much money is generated. The city council is committed to using 100 percent of these funds for police, fire, and medical response, but OpenGov will allow any citizen to confirm at any time that funds are being spent appropriately. Tracking these revenues in the General Fund, where police and fire expenditures are, will make that tracking easiest. With OpenGov, Prescott residents will be able to confirm, in real time, that the City is doing what it says it will do to the dollar.
The City of Prescott is proud to be proactively implementing the OpenGov software that will enhance transparency and accountability for the resources in our stewardship. Implementation of OpenGov has already begun in earnest. We intend to begin using it for next fiscal year’s budget preparation in the coming months. The public information portion of the program is scheduled to be available in April or May of 2025.
About Proposition 478
Proposition 478 seeks to reduce emergency response times by raising funds for the capital and operational needs of City police and fire departments. For a period of ten years, Proposition 478 would increase the Transaction Privilege (Sales) Tax by 0.95%, or 95 cents per hundred dollars, to construct a new fire station, relocate a fire station, rehabilitate existing fire stations, and building a secure police evidence facility. Once capital needs are met, the proposed tax would be reduced to 0.75% to support police officers, firefighters, equipment costs, and other expenses related to the ongoing improved operations of police, fire, and medical response. Ballot language can be found on the City website. https://prescott-az.gov/dedicated-transaction-privilege-tax-prop-478/
For more information and to take a brief survey about Prop 478, go to ParticipatePrescott.com.
