Chairman Thomas Galvin on the Maricopa County budget

The Maricopa County budget for the 2026 fiscal year was recently approved by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

Thomas Galvin, Chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss the County budget.

The $3.9 billion budget includes property tax cuts for the fifth consecutive year. The budget also includes funding for new facilities, including a new animal shelter in the West Valley and a new County library in Anthem.

Another new facility of note is a tabulations and elections center slated to open in the summer of 2027. This new center will more than double the pre-tabulation processing and ballot tabulation capacity.

“In terms of the elections building, absolutely necessary. This county has just been growing by leaps and bounds, and people are moving here every single day. The building that we’re currently in is just too small, it’s outdated by decades. Also, we need technology to catch up and we frankly just need more space for more workers to get in there and count the ballots faster,” Galvin said.

The County budget also places an emphasis on public safety with nearly 50% of the budget being allocated for those efforts; increased funding for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and sheriff’s deputies are among these efforts.

“With a $4 billion budget, we are the second largest budget in the state after the budget that’s passed and signed by the legislature and the governor. So this is really important and with a county of 4.5 million people, the fourth largest county in the country. It’s essential for us to do a good job in terms of following our principles of fiscal responsibility. So we’re able to cut the tax rate but we’re also able to make investments especially in public safety,” Galvin said.

Another bright spot in the budget that was noted by Galvin was the lowering of the staff to population ratio in the county.

“We have been lowering the staff to population ratio for the last 15 years, and I like to compare ourselves to the largest counties across the United States. Whether that’s Cook County in Illinois, LA County in California, Harris County in Texas, Miami Dade, and we are just demolishing the competition. We’re making sure that we’re getting more bang for the buck for taxpayer dollars. But every single year as the county grows, our ratio goes down,” Galvin said.

Galvin also commented on the county’s involvement in the recent state law regarding renovations to Chase Field.

“Well I’m very proud of the fact that the county fought hard to make sure that we were not harmed in this process. We were, many ways bystanders but we were also at the negotiating table. There was an amendment during the legislative process that would’ve scooped out money from the county’s general fund and we fought hard for that amendment to be struck out which it was,” Galvin said.