Public power

Should the city run the electrical grid? ... More road money appears ... And old-fashioned immunity.

One of the big questions of the moment in Tucson is whether the city should start a city-owned electric utility, stick with their longstanding ties to Tucson Electric Power, or find some other path.

Right now, the Tucson City Council is sorting through their options as they consider the effects of climate change, hear from residents upset about electric bills, and keep an eye on a looming deadline next year to ask voters to approve another 25-year franchise agreement with TEP.

No decision has been made yet, but the Council keeps signaling that they’re taking seriously the idea of a city-run power grid, or at least some version of a grid that isn’t entirely a for-profit, quasi-monopoly. Just last month, Councilman Paul Cunningham suggested a pilot program that involves homeowners associations and solar panels.

To help sort through their options, the Council commissioned a study that should be ready in May. The Council already is getting a taste of what to expect: The estimated price tag to buy much of TEP’s infrastructure would be upwards of $1 billion.

The Council could just say it’s too expensive and scrap the idea. But if they decide they want to start a city-run electric utility, that would set up an interesting battle with TEP. And voters will play a deciding role if city officials put the issue on the ballot or ask them to renew the franchise agreement with TEP.

Joining the club

The Council’s decision to start the study quite literally put Tucson on the map, at least the one the American Public Power Association uses to track cities that are debating whether to run their own utilities.

When we looked at what other cities are doing, we found tons of them that already made the leap. The “public power” (AKA, municipal-owned utilities) option is particularly popular in states like California, Massachusetts, and Florida, where dozens of electric utilities are run by small towns and mid-size cities.

Roughly 2,000 cities and towns across the country use not-for-profit, community-owned utilities that serve 54 million people, according to the American Public Power Association, which has advocated for publicly owned utilities since 1940. 

If you’re feeling nerdy, the APPA has detailed descriptions of the common obstacles cities and towns face when they try to make the leap to a publicly owned utility, like federal funding cuts and permitting reform. They also sketch out funding mechanisms used by municipalities, like bonds.

Arizona also has publicly owned utilities that range from small, rural districts to the City of Mesa, which provides electricity to 18,000 customers, mostly in the city’s downtown area.

Mesa’s experience is a reminder that “publicly owned” doesn’t mean “free.” The Mesa City Council took all kinds of heat from city residents last December when they raised utility rates.

It’s a theme that popped up all over the place. Somebody has to oversee the grid, and cover the costs that come with it. Either you have a state regulator like the Arizona Corporation Commission approving rates for TEP and other big utilities, or you have a local city council getting an earful from the public.

Over in Austin, Texas, the city has run the electrical grid for 125 years. That allowed them to make some choices that preserved the local flavor, like keeping 150-foot tall streetlights.

In the Kansas City area, officials with the City of Independence spent more than a year debating whether to sell their city-owned utility. Last December, they decided against it after studies showed a for-profit company likely wouldn’t make much money on the utility’s break-even business model, and prices for residents would probably go up.

Thinking about it

We found numerous cities that are in a similar position as Tucson. They’re thinking about it, but they haven’t made up their minds yet.

Last year, voters in the San Diego area gathered 30,000 signatures for a ballot initiative, Power San Diego, that would establish a “not-for-profit municipal electric distribution utility.”

The San Diego City Council rejected the initiative, but not the idea itself.

City officials already have their own plan in the works. They commissioned a “public power feasibility study” in 2022, which found that if the city bought the power grid for $2 billion and created a city-owned utility, residents would see a savings of up to 14%.

San Diego is now in Phase 2 of that study, getting into the details of what the structure of a public utility would look like, how much it would cost, and what role the local for-profit utility company would play.

A cluster of cities in Florida are at a similar point as Tucson. A St. Petersburg City Council member is pushing to get out from under Duke Energy, saying city residents are “at the whims of whatever they want to raise their rates to," and start a city-owned utility.

The city council of nearby Clearwater commissioned a study, just like Tucson did, as they approached their own decision whether to renew a 30-year franchise agreement with Duke Energy at the end of 2025. Clearwater’s study is focused on buying energy wholesale and distributing to the city’s customers.

They’re coming up against opposition from the utility company that sounds a lot like what a Tucson water expert warned the Tucson City Council about last October, when he said TEP is “not going gently into that good night” and would put up a fight.

"The City of Clearwater's current agreement does not have a purchase option and Duke Energy's system is not for sale, not here, not anywhere within the state of Florida," Duke Energy's Florida President Melissa Seixas told that city’s council. "We will not be negotiating a purchase price if the city is actually interested in municipalization and taking over the system. You will have to go through a process of condemnation, which is lengthy, expensive and very complicated."

We could go on with more examples, like officials in Louisville looking pretty hard at starting a city-owned utility last year or small towns in Massachusetts banding together to finance large-scale battery projects.

But what do you think? Sooner or later, voters are going to be asked to make a choice about Tucson’s energy future.

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For the next two weeks, we’re taking a deeper look into Proposition 414 and getting into the weeds of what the measure will and will not do.

If voters approve Prop 414 next month, the half-cent sales tax would generate $800 million over the next decade, largely dedicated to public safety, housing, and what city officials call “community resilience” projects.

First on our list is the $1 million a year set aside for the city’s ¡Somos Uno! Cultural heritage program that launched in 2023.

The local arts and culture and creative economy industries are responsible for roughly 52,000 local jobs and are collectively worth billions in annual revenue to the local economy, according to an outside consultant the city hired.

If voters back the half-cent sales tax increase, the city would use the funding to reinvest in culturally significant projects, as well as the creative community.

So what would the money be spent on? The Rattlesnake Bridge near downtown might be a good example, says Tucson City Manager Tim Thomure.

Love it or hate it, the bridge is a draw for those visiting Tucson, but city officials concede they are falling behind on maintenance.

“The Snake Bridge is infrastructure, but also it is art. And it doesn't look very good right now,” he said.

Bait and switch?: Tucson Mayor Regina Romero is trying to move around voter-approved bond money meant for new irrigation systems at two city-owned golf courses, Arizona Daily Star sports columnist Greg Hansen writes. Instead of putting the $5 million toward irrigation, Romero wants to use it to remodel one of the courses, which isn’t what voters were promised.

Wrench in the gears: Some research projects at the University of Arizona have stopped as a result of the Trump administration’s actions in recent weeks, the Star’s Prerana Sannappanavar reports. A UA official said the “stop work” orders have come from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Education. Officials didn’t say exactly which projects were put on hold.

GOP enters the chat: There is now a Republican in the mix running for a seat on the Tucson City Council. Jay Tolkoff filed last week for the Ward 6 seat, currently held by Democrat Karin Uhlich, who is serving out the rest of former Councilman Steve Kozachik’s term and isn’t running for a full term. Tolkoff, who is now retired after closing his PJ Subs restaurant a few years ago, is running because he wants the Council to focus more on crime, roads and other core services.

If no other Republican enters the race before the April 7 filing deadline and he gets the 288 signatures he needs to qualify to get on the ballot, Tolkoff will face the winner of the crowded Democratic primary. So far six Democrats have filed papers to run for the midtown seat.

More savings, more road repairs: Some lucky Pima County residents will get their roads fixed in the next few months. The County estimates it has an extra $3.15 million to spend on roads. It won’t go far, the roughly 15.45 miles of repairs is divided into 60 projects listed in a recent memo for County Administrator Jan Lesher. The reason for the extra cash? The $24.1 million in road repair projects approved by the County Supervisors for this fiscal year have come in under budget.

Devil in the details: New Pima County Treasurer Brian Johnson wants voters to pay attention to a discussion in Congress that could cost local taxpayers a lot of money. If Congress removes tax exemptions for interest on municipal bonds, local school districts, for example, will pay the price with higher interest rates, making it costlier to build and renovate schools, Johnson writes in an op-ed in the Tucson Sentinel.

All sizzle, no steak?: The Trump administration created a stir when they announced a widespread immigration crackdown. They’ve delivered with televised raids and flying migrants to other countries on military aircraft. But experts say there is little evidence so far of a mass deportation program, the Arizona Republic’s Daniel Gonzalez reports.

Justine Wadsack would hate this bill. Especially if she were still in the Legislature.

State Rep. Quang Nguyen introduced a bill on Friday that would strip legislative immunity for all traffic stops. The bill comes a few days after state Sen. Mark Finchem (who used to represent the same area as Wadsack) cited immunity after being pulled over for speeding.

A judge will decide Finchem’s case, but Wadsack tried this last year - claiming political persecution - and failed.

Last year Wadsack claimed legislative immunity when she was pulled over on Speedway while driving 71 miles an hour (in a 35 mph zone) on the way to a house that wasn’t in her legislative district.

At the time, she introduced herself as “Senator Justine Wadsack,” and defended her driving, saying she was worried her Tesla was about to run out of battery power.

She opted to take a defensive driving course a few days before her trial in December was going to start, ending her legal battle.