Tusayan has $9 million in savings, revenues of $5 million a year and a state spending limit of $1.4 million a year. The town is under a spending limit because voters rejected a proposed budget over-ride. There is another option. State law does allow Tusayan to borrow money for capital improvement projects like flood gauges.

Basically the town would be taking out a loan against its savings.  There would be fees and interest associated with the loan. Councilman Robb Baldosky expressed concerns at the February 12 Town Council meeting. He said, “This requires us to get a financial advisor which opens the door to go into more debt. That worries me.” He added, “The voters decided to give us a limitation and we are going back to ask for a break to that. I just think it is a slippery slope to do this.”

Mayor Sanderson said, “This is not about spending a million dollars. This is about getting us off the knife edge.”

Tusayan businesswoman Clarinda Vail noted that despite the lean budget Tusayan is still spending six figures on lobbyists, “That’s another $120,000 to $180,000 a year that as a community member, I don’t really understand what you are spending it on. That might help you with your budget constraints without that $10,000 to $15,000 a month expense.”

On February 18th, the Town Council voted 5 to 0 to borrow up to $2 million for capital projects.