College unable to provide Sedona and Verde valley tax contribution data during May 27 budget hearing
Yavapai County residents will pay an estimated $58,240,800 in property taxes to support Yavapai Community College in fiscal year 2025–2026. However, at the College’s public budget hearing held on May 27, College officials were unable to answer a key question: how much of that total comes from taxpayers living in Sedona and the Verde Valley.
District 1 Governing Board member William Kiel requested a breakdown of property tax contributions and expenditures specific to the region. In response, Dr. Clint Ewell, the College’s Vice President of Administration and Finance, admitted, “Unfortunately, I don’t know the answers to either of those questions.” He added that the 125-page budget document provided to the Board does not “split apart the budget,” concluding, “I don’t have a way of answering that question today.”
Kiel noted that this was a repeated request, saying, “It’s a question I’ve asked in the past that I’d like an answer to.” Dr. Ewell responded, “I think in the past when you asked, we did answer it, but I had no warning today that you would ask that question again.”
Kiel further stated that he had requested a meeting with Dr. Ewell prior to the hearing to discuss the budget in detail but received no reply. “I was hoping somebody would have researched it by now,” he said.
Board Chair Deb McCasland, who appeared intent on limiting Kiel’s line of questioning, interjected that she believed the percentage from Sedona and the Verde Valley was approximately 28 percent, a figure Dr. Ewell tentatively agreed might be correct.
The inability—or unwillingness—of College leadership to provide a clear accounting of how much Sedona and Verde Valley residents contribute in property taxes, and how those funds are reinvested locally, continues to raise concerns about transparency and equity. For residents who supply a substantial portion of the College’s annual revenue, the lack of detailed financial accountability reinforces longstanding frustrations about underrepresentation and marginalization in institutional planning and decision-making. As calls for greater fiscal clarity grow louder, the question remains whether Yavapai College will deliver the answers its rural taxpayers deserve.