As we’ve been warned in the past several months, Finance Director Craig Rudolphy made it clear during a special budget session on April 19 that Fountain Hills will need to get creative if it plans to absorb a $2 million deficit by 2020-21.

Rudolphy and Town Manager Grady Miller presented the Council with a proposed budget for FY17 during this session, putting an early estimate of $39.8 million on next year’s budget.

But while it is evident that the Council is going to have to start thinking outside of the box when it comes to balancing the budget, it was also made abundantly clear that personnel is an area that can take no further cuts. The opposite was proposed, actually, but only by a small margin.

The biggest item of discussion during the budget session was the potential of a greater than expected pay raise for local staff and, despite the issues in town finances, we tend to agree.

For a bit of history, the Town of Fountain Hills staffed as many as 115 employees back in FY02. That dropped sharply to 77 back in FY05, eventually rebounding to 88 in FY08, right at the heart of the big recession.

Today, the Town staffs 54 employees, down more than half from that 2002 figure and, somehow, those employees have managed to maintain services. It’s not magic; it’s just a group of men and women pulling a lot of extra weight in order to get the job done for the town they work for.

To be fair, we clearly don’t need 115 employees to take care of business. The staff has been doing an excellent job at its current level for the past seven years. But as Miller stated during the budget session, these folks are being worked to the bone.

The proposed 2.5 percent increase is the standard cost of living increase many employers utilize on an annual basis. As pretty much every member of Town Council pointed out during the budget session, despite financial struggles, Fountain Hills can afford to give a little more to the folks who quite literally keep the lights on.