A plain-language look at Avondale's adopted budget for
July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026.
Budget at a glance
Avondale adopted a $486.6 million FY2026 budget
The Avondale City Council adopted the FY2025-26 budget on
June 2, 2025. The budget took effect July 1, 2025.
Adopted budget$486.6MBudgeted expenditures and expenses
Capital improvements$204.2MAbout 42% of the total budget
Projected revenue$275.9MExcludes transfers and other financing sources
Property-tax rate1.4592Combined City rate per $100 assessed value
The $486.6 million budget is not $486.6 million in taxes
Avondale's budget includes sales taxes, state-shared revenue,
property taxes, utility fees, development fees, grants,
accumulated fund balances, bond proceeds and other resources.
Transfers between City funds can also appear in multiple accounting
schedules. They should not be treated as new money each time they
move from one fund to another.
What changed from FY2025?
The adopted budget increased by about $43.4 million
Avondale's FY2026 adopted budget totaled $486.6 million,
compared with $443.221 million in FY2025. That is an increase
of approximately $43.4 million, or 9.8%.
Measure
FY2025
FY2026
Change
Adopted budget
$443.2M
$486.6M
+$43.4M (+9.8%)
Capital improvements
$189.7M
$204.2M
+$14.4M (+7.6%)
Projected revenue
$259.9M
$275.9M
+$16.0M (+6.2%)
Combined City property-tax rate
1.4592
1.4592
No change
What drove the increase?
The largest headline change was not simply an increase in
day-to-day operating costs. Capital improvements increased by
about $14.4 million, while projected current-year revenue
increased by about $16.0 million.
Because Avondale's total budget also includes accumulated fund
balances, capital carryover, transfers and other financing
resources, changes in the total adopted budget should not be
interpreted as an equivalent change in taxes or current-year
revenue.
The Police technology picture also changed
FY2025 established an objective to test cameras acting as
license plate readers at specific intersections. FY2026 budget
records identify a broader set of Police technology and
equipment, including vehicle GPS, mobile dispatch computing,
investigative phone software, drones and license plate reader
equipment.
These records document budgeted or planned technology. They do
not by themselves prove that every item was purchased, deployed
or used during the fiscal year.
Where the money goes
FY2026 spending by major purpose
Avondale's Budget in Brief groups the $486.6 million adopted budget
into four broad spending areas. Capital improvements account for
about 42% of the total budget.
Operating expenses$241.4M · 50%
Day-to-day City services, staffing, programs and operations.
Capital improvements$204.2M · 42%
Infrastructure, facilities, utilities, parks,
transportation and other long-term projects.
Contingency$31.1M · 6%
Debt service$9.9M · 2%
Operating budget by function
Within operating expenses, Avondale also reports spending by major
City function. These figures provide additional detail about the
services supported by the operating budget.
General government$87.2M · 36%
Public safety$73.8M · 31%
Includes police, fire and medical services and related
public-safety costs.
Utilities$33.0M · 14%
Community services$29.7M · 12%
Community & economic development$14.8M · 6%
Streets & transportation$2.9M · 1%
Different views answer different questions
The four broad categories above show how the full adopted budget is
divided among operating expenses, capital improvements, contingency
and debt service. The operating-function breakdown provides more
detail about day-to-day City services.
The Budget by Fund section below provides the accounting view that
reconciles to the $486.6 million adopted budget.
Budget by fund
Another way to look at the $486.6 million
Fund group
FY2026 adopted budget
General Fund
$215,386,900
Enterprise Funds
$118,380,200
Special Revenue Funds
$98,810,200
Internal Service Funds
$26,595,200
Capital Projects Funds
$18,546,000
Debt Service Funds
$8,896,000
Total
$486,614,500
Enterprise Funds include water, sewer and solid-waste operations.
These services have dedicated revenue sources such as utility charges.
Where the money comes from
FY2026 projected revenue
Avondale's Budget in Brief identifies approximately
$275.9 million in projected revenue,
excluding transfers in, interfund loans and other financing sources.
$94.8MTaxes
Includes local sales taxes and property taxes.
$64.7MIntergovernmental revenue
Includes state-shared and other governmental revenue.
$61.1MService charges & development fees
Includes utility charges, fees and other service-related revenue.
$55.3MOther revenue
Why is annual revenue lower than the spending budget?
The adopted budget can use resources accumulated in prior years,
including fund balances and money already committed to continuing
capital projects. Capital financing and other financing sources can
also support spending without appearing in the projected-revenue
figure above.
Revenue pressures identified by the City
The FY2026 budget message identified the loss of the Residential
Rental Sales Tax beginning in January 2025 and reductions in
Avondale's share of state income-tax revenue as challenges.
At the same time, the City projected FY2025 sales-tax collections
would grow 7.5% over FY2024 and expected the General Fund to add
about $13 million to reserves by the end of FY2025.
Property taxes
The combined City property-tax rate remained 1.4592
Avondale's FY2026 combined City property-tax rate was
1.4592 per $100 of assessed valuation.
City property tax
FY2025
FY2026
Primary rate
0.6241
0.6095
Secondary rate
0.8351
0.8497
Total City rate
1.4592
1.4592
Primary levy$4.34M
Secondary levy$6.05M
Total City levy$10.38M
A stable tax rate does not mean every tax bill stays the same
The City tax rate remained the same overall, but an individual
property's tax bill can still change when assessed value changes.
Property-tax bills can also include taxes from other jurisdictions
that are separate from the City of Avondale.
Capital projects
About $204.2 million for FY2026 capital work
Avondale's capital budget includes new FY2026 funding as well as
money carried forward for projects that began or were authorized
in earlier years.
Utilities$67.9M · 33%
Streets & transportation$48.8M · 24%
Public safety$32.3M · 16%
Community services$24.9M · 12%
Asset replacement$23.2M · 11%
General government$7.1M · 4%
Major FY2026 projects
The City's capital plan contains many more individual projects than
are shown here. These are selected projects that are either among the
larger FY2026 allocations or may be especially recognizable to
residents. For the complete Capital Improvement Program,
see the City's FY2026 budget documents.
W
Water & sewer
Utility infrastructure
Water Reclamation Facility Phase II ExpansionExpansion of wastewater treatment capacity.
$22.360M
New Well #25B
$2.410M
Well 7 Site Development
$2.040M
R
Roads & transportation
Streets, accessibility and connectivity
Pavement Management Program FY2026Street preservation and pavement work.
$3.000M
Citywide Sidewalk Expansion & Gap Work
$600K
Communication Conduit & Fiber Backbone
$450K
Sidewalk Accessibility & ADA Work
$200K
P
Parks & recreation
Parks, trails and neighborhood amenities
Civic Center Park
$3.365M
Donatela Park
$2.938M
Festival Fields Sport-Field Lighting
$1.119M
Agua Fria Trailhead at Friendship Park & McDowell Road
$781K
Friendship Park Sport-Field Lighting
$480K
A
Asset replacement
Vehicles, technology and existing assets
Vehicle Replacement FY2026
$5.760M
Computer & Equipment Asset Replacement
$1.800M
Communication Systems & Data Center Asset Replacement
$1.340M
Streets Asset Replacement
$1.290M
Fire Apparatus Replacement
$900K
Police Asset Replacement Program
$209K
Capital-project figures need context
A project's FY2026 amount can include money carried forward from
an earlier fiscal year as well as newly authorized FY2026 funding.
A project's total multi-year cost can also be much larger than the
amount scheduled for a single year.
Police technology & supplemental spending
Specific Police technology identified in FY2026
FY2026 budget records identify several Police technology and
equipment items, including vehicle GPS, mobile dispatch computing,
investigative phone software and Police asset-replacement funding.
Police item
FY2026 amount
What the budget shows
Vehicle GPS
Budgeted item identified
Police vehicle location / GPS technology.
Mobile dispatch computing
Budgeted item identified
Mobile computing used for dispatch-related operations.
Investigative phone software
Budgeted item identified
Software supporting Police phone investigations.
Police Asset Replacement
Program identified
Asset-replacement funding included Police technology and
equipment, including drones and a license plate reader.
Police technology
FY2026 shows a broader technology footprint
Compared with FY2025's explicit objective to test intersection-based
license plate reader cameras, FY2026 budget records identify a broader
set of Police technologies and equipment.
Vehicle GPS
Identified
Mobile dispatch computing
Identified
Investigative phone software
Identified
Police asset-replacement technology
Includes drones and a license plate reader
These are budget records. They do not by themselves prove that
every technology item was purchased, installed, activated or used.
The FY2026 Police asset-replacement material includes a license plate
reader among the equipment identified in budget records.
The budget record establishes funding context, not proof of deployment.
Looking ahead
FY2027 documents a much larger expansion
The following fiscal year identifies $239,000 in ongoing State RICO
funding for 58 additional license plate reader cameras, along with
separate Police drone and data-sharing requests.
How to read this page
Budgeted does not necessarily mean spent
An adopted budget authorizes spending. It does not necessarily
mean the entire amount was ultimately spent.
A budget entry also does not prove that equipment was purchased,
a vendor contract was signed, or a project was completed.
Contracts, purchase orders, invoices and audited actual
expenditures provide additional evidence about what happened
after funding was approved.
Verify it yourself
Primary sources
These City of Avondale documents are the primary sources for this page.