The proposed budget includes funds for Oro Valley's municipal operations center at Rancho Vistoso.

Jim Davis / Arizona Daily Star

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The Oro Valley Town Council is working its way through the 2008-09 proposed budget, which stands at $201 million.

The budget that Town Manager David Andrews submitted to the council is 69 percent, or $82.2 million, higher than last year's budget.

"It's been a long process to really get it to the point where it is today," Andrews said of the budget.

"To me, it was a very difficult budget year — we had to cut over $3 million in departmental budget requests."

He recommended a 1.5 percent cost-of-living raise for the town's approximately 375 employees. Civilian employees also get up to a 4 percent merit pay raise, while police officers get step increases.

Police officers, who negotiated for a 2.5 percent cost-of-living increase, are unhappy about the town manager's recommendation, said Andrew Novak, a detective with the Oro Valley Police Department and president of the Fraternal Order of Police.

Town officials "profess how wonderful town employees are, but when it comes to budget times, employees get stuck at the end," he said.

"We believe the council will do the right thing … we're just asking them to be fair," Novak said.

The town manager's budget gives the council options to make cuts elsewhere if it chooses to give employees a higher pay increase, Andrews said.

More than half of the budget, about $106 million, is earmarked for capital costs.

The budget sets aside $49.2 million for the Naranja Town Site, a proposed 213-acre park development. Residents will vote on the project in November.

Another $32 million will pay for a municipal operations center at Rancho Vistoso and some improvements at Town Hall. The center, long in the planning, is scheduled to open in November 2010.

Town employees already started making the transition to the new site near North Rancho Vistoso Boulevard and East Innovation Park Drive, where they work out of two modular buildings.

"We were so crowded on Calle Concordia, we really needed to have more space," said Craig Civalier, town engineer.

The old location at 680 W. Calle Concordia still houses some operations. "But it's fewer people with less impact to the neighborhood," he said.

Over the years, the Concordia site has drawn complaints from area residents, as well as a lawsuit that claimed operations caused a nuisance and eroded property values.

The budget also proposes the addition of five new hires to the town. Two of the new full-time employees would work in development services, one in water utility, one in administration and one in magistrate court.

Meanwhile, the budget proposes reduced funding for community groups to $429,000, down from last year's $477,000.

The budget is set for tentative adoption on June 18. Final budget approval is set for July 16. Both regular council meetings are scheduled for 7 p.m.