When the Town of Fountain Hills – or any other municipality or business, for that matter – finds itself with a challenging proposal, it is likely to turn to someone with specific expertise to help evaluate or implement the idea.

It is much like an individual with a legal problem calling on a lawyer, visiting a doctor with a medical problem or using a contractor and architect when building a house.

While the Town of Fountain Hills might spend thousands of dollars on fees for a consultant, it may in reality be saving thousands by not having to maintain staff to address occasional issues, according to Town Manager Grady Miller.

“All municipalities utilize outside firms to provide expertise on a variety of subject matters,” Miller said. “There are a number of firms that cities use all the time; outside auditors for the annual audit/comprehensive annual financial reports, bond counsel, financial advisors, development impact fee studies, master plan development for parks, public safety, water, waste water, utility rate analysis and others.”

The town has a relatively small staff, so Fountain Hills contracts with outside professional service firms to supplement resources to complete projects.

“Due to the limited staffing of the town we have found that contracting out these services saves the town hundreds of thousands dollars annually versus having to pay additional employees and benefits,” Miller said. “[We] will also contract with professional firms when it is necessary to assist the town in addressing complex matters or problems.”

The Crystal Lagoon feasibility study is an example of such an approach. Even though the proposed project has fallen by the wayside, the resulting study is likely to have valuable information for the town as it considers other economic factors related to downtown.

“In addition to consulting contracts, the town has also found significant cost savings over the years in contracting out a number of [ongoing] services,” Miller added.

Primarily, the town uses contractors for its most costly services; public safety is provided through contracts with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement, and fire and emergency medical response is provided by Rural/Metro Corp. These two agreements alone account for more than half of the town’s annual general fund budget.

The town also uses contracts to supplement staff resources in landscaping and grounds maintenance, wash maintenance, engineering, plan review, building inspections and other similar services.

Just in the past couple of years the town engaged Hunden Strategic for the financial side of the lagoon analysis ($18,800) and Swaback Partners for the design aspect ($20,000); Kimley-Horn for a concept design for Avenue of the Fountains lighting ($24,000); and CK Group for an engineering analysis regarding traffic on Shea Boulevard at key intersections ($20,000), a study that will be the subject of a special council session Nov. 14.

The council also just approved a design for a bus shelter ($26,278) and they had a reserve study conducted on town-owned facilities ($28,000). There were studies related to Fountain Lake water – one related to irrigation ($5,100) and the second a reclaimed water study ($8,700). A storm water compliance study was conducted in 2016 ($28,998).

Going back further, some of the larger consulting contracted for the town include the Regional Public Transit Authority for a transit planning study in 2012 ($60,000).

In 2009 Swaback Partners conducted the planning study for the downtown that became the Downtown Vision Plan for the town ($59,200).

In 2007 T.L. Hocking provided a comprehensive financial study ($19,900).

The Strategic Planning Process in 2005 used consulting assistance with Blackerby Associates to facilitate the process ($60,000) and ETC Institute for a community survey ($25,000).