The Daily Agenda: Property tax push, Uhlich's chances, a river refuge, and more
The county's got land for a wildlife refuge on the Santa Cruz ... What do you do if you can't get wildfire insurance? ... Layoffs at KVOA.
This week’s news nuggets come from tomorrow’s meetings of the Pima County Board of Supervisors and the Tucson City Council, along with today’s council meeting, where the council is set to choose a new member.
The idea of raising property taxes is still hanging on at the Pima County Board of Supervisors. Supervisor Matt Heinz urged the rest of the board to consider it last month, alongside Supervisor Sylvia Lee. Now he’s asking Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher to explain exactly how much a 5.61-cent raise in the tax rate would cost the average homeowner. He also wants to talk about the drop in the tax rate in recent years, as well as the financial situation the county would be in if they had raised property taxes in fiscal 2023, as a board policy says they should have done.
In a separate agenda item, Heinz wants to establish a Pima County Housing Trust Fund for affordable housing and pointed to property taxes as one way to fund it. He said it would use $10 million annually and be funded by existing property taxes, a new secondary property tax, document recording fees, impact fees, or a sales tax, among other options.
This is an intriguing one. The County Attorney’s Office wants an executive session to discuss whether to make public a March 13 memo written by Deputy County Attorney Sean Holguin. It has to do with Sheriff Chris Nanos being able to adopt a deflection program. There aren’t any other details in the agenda item, but deflection programs are meant to help people avoid ending up in jail for issues like substance abuse that could be better dealt with by a social service organization. Deflection programs have been one of Nanos’ priorities since his 2020 election.
The Santa Cruz River has been getting some much-needed care in recent years. Now the county and local groups are pushing to get areas along the river designated as an urban wildlife refuge, which would bring federal support for conservation and recreation. Supervisor Adelita Grijalva wrote a letter to federal officials April 30 laying out the case for the refuge and three areas along the river that could be the refuge’s base: 307 acres in the Midvale Park area, 230 acres along Paseo de las Iglesias, and 93 acres south of downtown along the West Branch of the river.
“Those entering the Tucson metro area from the north via Interstate 10 initially see sand and gravel pits, a cement plant, and other industrial uses that line the banks of the Santa Cruz River,” Grijalva wrote. “To the casual observer, what may not be readily apparent are the many more recent community efforts that are slowly improving stretches of the river, bringing it back to life and bringing the community back to its banks.”
Wildfire season is upon us and Mt. Lemmon residents say they can’t get the insurance they need. Supervisor Steve Christy put the item on the agenda after he received a letter from Sally Crum, president of the Mt. Lemmon Homeowners Association, and Jenni Zimmerman, president of the Mt. Lemmon Business Economic Association. They said insurance companies are reluctant to sell insurance policies in areas like Mt. Lemmon where people live in “wildland-urban interface areas.” Even when those companies do offer insurance, it often is costly and has gaps in coverage. Crum and Zimmerman want the county to talk with insurance companies, incentivize insurers to provide better coverage, and educate the community about ways to protect their homes from wildfires.
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Over at the Tucson City Council, it’s time to pick a new council member. They’re having a special meeting today to choose a replacement for former Councilman Steve Kozachik. Before they make a final choice, they’ll hear presentations from the four applicants who scored highest in the rankings by the council members.
The clear frontrunners are Karin Uhlich (25 points) and Ted Prezelski (22 points), followed by Vince Rabago (15 points) and Pamela Powers (8 points). Uhlich is a former council member and Prezelski is an aide to Councilman Paul Cunningham.
It looks like Uhlich has a leg up on Prezelski. She was the top choice of a majority of the council. Mayor Regina Romero and Council members Lane Santa Cruz, Nikki Lee, and Richard Fimbres all picked Uhlich. Cunningham picked Prezelski and Councilman Kevin Dahl picked Theresa Riel.
The city and county reached a deal on how to spend the opioid settlement money. The Pima County supervisors and the Tucson City Council are going to vote on an intergovernmental agreement at each of their meetings Tuesday. The county was set to get $48 million from a nationwide settlement with pharmaceutical companies, but the decision on how to spend a lot of the money was delayed as they worked with other local governments to come up with a collaborative approach. Sarah Launius, the director of community safety, health and wellness for the city, laid out a detailed framework for how best to combat the fentanyl epidemic that ranges from how to collect data to providing better care in the county jail.
Bad day for local journalism: KVOA laid off at least eight employees Friday as part of nationwide cuts at stations owned by Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, the Tucson Sentinel’s Dylan Smith writes. The cuts included on-air talent and behind-the-scenes workers, one of whom had been with the company since 1965. The New York Post reported that the company was laying off about 300 of its 1,200 employees in an effort to cut $100 million in costs.
Crisis care: Volunteer groups like Doctors Without Borders are filling a critical need in addressing the “medical crisis” at the Arizona-Mexico border, the Arizona Daily Star’s Emily Bregel writes. Other volunteer groups, including No More Deaths and the Tucson, Green Valley and Ajo Samaritans have been working together for months to ensure a daily humanitarian presence in Sásabe. They say that Border Patrol now conducts multiple daily pick-ups east of the area due to continued pressure.
Coming soon: Original Chop Shop, a fast-casual neighborhood eatery, is opening its first location in Tucson later this summer, Inside Tucson Business’ Christina Fuoco-Karasinski reports. The location will be centrally located on Campbell Avenue and open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. This is the first Arizona location outside of the Phoenix area. Original Chop Shop doesn’t market itself as healthy, but competes in the “better-for-you space” and sells protein bowls, salads, chops and sandwiches.
Objections ignored: The U.S. Forest Service is ignoring objections from the governments of Santa Cruz County and the Town of Patagonia and opening a 30-day scoping period on May 10, the Patagonia Regional Times’ Kat Crockett and Marion Vendituoli report. The forest service is charged with leading the NEPA permitting process for the controversial South32 Hermosa project. Both the county and Town of Patagonia have asked the forest service to extend the time period, saying that it’s a complex project in an environmentally sensitive area.
“Our stakeholders require sufficient time to fully understand the implications this mine will have on the ecosystem, and the impacts mining operations may have on public health,” Santa Cruz County supervisors wrote in a letter to the forest service.
Fox fiasco: The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum closed early Wednesday, after an employee was attacked by a fox, the Arizona Republic’s Rey Covarrubias Jr. reports. The employee didn’t sustain any injuries, but the Arizona Game and Fish euthanized two foxes believed to be related to the attack and submitted the bodies for rabies testing. This is the fourth fox attack in Tucson since December. Gray foxes, along with bats and skunks, are the animals most commonly infected with rabies.
Big Brother is watching: Internal emails show that the University of Arizona monitors social media posts made by students and faculty about certain political events, Aura Bogado reports. Bogado posted on Twitter and TikTok last week about her discovery of emails from last fall showing that the UA’s social media director continually downloaded and stored posts from student groups and sent them to leadership. Bogado also shared the nearly 400 pages of emails.
Curt moderated a debate on Saturday between the two Democratic candidates for the Pima County supervisor seat in District 1, newcomer Jake Martin and incumbent Supervisor Rex Scott. The two candidates debated live, and they also wrote their responses beforehand.
You can read Martin’s responses here and Scott’s responses here.
I hope everyone takes the time to read Emily Bregel's readable, well written indepth article regarding the presence of Doctors Without Borders on our border with Mexico. The photo of a volunteer worker sitting with a 87 year old asylum seeker is heart breaking.