SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Inflation has everything costing more, which means a dollar today won't go as far as it did in 2019.
It's an issue Valley cities, like Scottsdale, are facing. In 2019, Scottsdale residents voted to approve a $319 million bond project. The money was to create or rejuvenate 58 spots across the city like new pools, sports complexes, and public safety facilities.
But since 2019, Scottsdale's Public Works Director Dan Worth says construction costs went through the roof.
"Everyone understands the inflation we've seen with everything else, gas, groceries, everybody understands the consumer price index hit a peak of 9% and everyone knows that's a lot," said Worth. "The construction industry peaked out at 18%."
Worth says about 20 of the 58 projects are now costing an additional $81 million. That includes a new dog park off Hayden Road and Thompson Peak Parkway, which is $2 million over budget.
"It's not just putting up a fence and planting grass," Worth said. "We had to build a parking area, a bridge across an existing wash to get to the parking area. We had to build a restroom."
Worth says the extra funds needed will not fall back on the taxpayers.
"We're not increasing the amount we're borrowing. We're not increasing property tax rates. We're using the funds the city already had," he said.
Worth says the extra money is coming from the city's general fund which is made up of sales tax revenue. Because everything costs more now, he says people are spending more and in return, they have enough in that fund to make up the difference. He says that means there will be no cuts to services and no canceled projects. But the future is unknown.
"We don't intend to run out of money as we go forward," Worth said. "We made a commitment to voters. We're going to find a way within our existing assets without raising any taxes to continue to get the projects done. It might be that we end up not doing one or two, we don't know yet, but as it stands right now we're planning on getting them all done."
Worth says there are two public training facilities in the 2019 bond project that are millions of dollars over budget and the cost is not related to inflation. He says the city misjudged how much they would initially cost.
