The Daily Agenda: South Tucson voters to decide fire department funding
The Daily Agenda: South Tucson voters to decide fire department funding
A $6.1 million fire department bond is on the ballot for the General Election … The mayor has concerns about depending on voters … Hobbs appoints a new regent.
After months of discussions by city leaders, South Tucson voters will decide in November if they’re willing to pay more in property taxes to help fund their cash-strapped fire department.
The bond would provide $6.1 million in funding to the fire department by increasing property taxes by about $200 a year for a house valued at $100,000.
Funding fire services has been a longtime struggle for South Tucson, as the city doesn’t have the money to pay for a fully staffed department or specialty equipment.
The fire department is staffed by two full-time captains, one who covers “A shift” and the other “B shift.” The third “C shift” is covered by a reserve firefighter.
There are a total of 32 paid reserve firefighters to help fill the schedule, many of whom work full-time at other agencies, according to the city’s website.
“Even though the City of South Tucson has limited resources, the city council, along with department heads work together to make the best use of those resources for the continuance of service delivery to the community,” Finance Director Lourdes Aguirre said in an email to the Tucson Agenda.
South Tucson has for years had an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Tucson FIre Department to provide backup services, but it’s unclear how much longer that will be in place.
Earlier this year, the South Tucson City Council created a citizen advisory committee to make recommendations about the best financial direction to take with the fire department’s budget, including evaluating whether it would be worth it to add a property tax bond to the November election. They unanimously approved the bond.
In June, outgoing Tucson City Manager Mike Ortega penned a letter urging South Tucson to move away from becoming “increasingly reliant” on the Tucson Fire Department, after they assisted with a May fire at South Tucson’s shuttered Tucson Greyhound Park earlier this year.
The fire was the third major large fire in South Tucson within a year and took 30 firefighters to bring under control. It continued to smolder for several days, with firefighters deciding the best option was to bulldoze a portion of the building, before discovering the risk of asbestos and calling off the plans.
City officials are hoping to use the bond money to buy a used fire truck, but even if the measure passes, it could take some time before the city sees that truck.
South Tucson has been waiting for over a year for a rear-loader vehicle, and a few months for a street sweeper, according to a statement made by Aguirre in a city council meeting, with both delays attributed to the vendor.
If the bond doesn’t pass, the city will only have less than $2 million to spend on fire services in the 2025 fiscal year. The department’s budget is $1.09 million, with the city approving an additional $600,000 in contingency funds.
Nearly 50% of that $1.09 million is allocated to pensions, with pensions also making up a large portion of the police department’s $2.1 million budget.
The city council approved the final budget of $38 million for the 2025 fiscal year last month. It includes a $3.2 million surplus, a welcome turn of events after last year’s $600,000 deficit.
Mayor Paul Diaz and outgoing Councilmember Anita Romero were the two opposing votes.
“Voting for the budget sets policy,” Diaz said during the meeting. “I do not like standing around waiting for a bond to pass, and if it doesn’t and we’re not ready for it.”
Diaz said the fire department had to close on holidays last year, including Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year, due to its lack of full-time firefighters.1
His worry is that the city must now depend on voters to pass the bond in November to make sure they'll be able to make improvements to the fire department, including hiring more firefighters and investing into a new fire truck to replace their decades-old trucks.
If voters decide they aren’t willing to pony up, South Tucson’s ability to maintain its own department will be up in the air.
Susan's work with the Tucson Agenda is supported by the Local News Initiative of Southern Arizona, a fund of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona.
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New regent in town: Gov. Katie Hobbs appointed University of Arizona alumni Lee Stein to the Arizona Board of Regents yesterday, the Arizona Daily Star’s Ellie Wolfe reports. Stein is a longtime legal expert, who graduated from Arizona State University’s law school. He served as a member of former Senator John McCain’s Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee and, according to Hobbs, has a track record of fighting for accountability and transparency.
Election results in: Pima County’s remaining ballots were counted Monday, with no changes to the outcome in any races, the Tucson Sentinel’s Jim Nintzel writes. A Marana Town Council seat was decided by only 14 votes, which could mean a recount to confirm that Roxanne Ziegler will remain on the council for a sixth term. There were 197,255 ballots cast in the July 30 primary, with an overall turnout of 31%. About 50% of Republicans cast a ballot, compared to 46% of Democrats.
Meanwhile, in Santa Cruz County: In Santa Cruz County, the final round of unofficial ballot tallies put Luis Carlos Davis, a teacher and filmmaker, over the top in the Democratic primary for county supervisor, the Nogales International’s Angela Gervasi reports. He ousted long-time Supervisor Manuel Ruiz by just 10 votes. Another incumbent, Supervisor Bruce Bracker, also lost his seat in the Dem primary, to John Fanning.
Monumental plans: U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva has introduced legislation that would protect nearly 400,000 acres of tribal land and create a new national monument in Southwest Arizona, Arizona Public Media’s Hannah Cree reports. The proposed boundaries of the Great Bend of the Gila National Monument includes a swath of land west of Phoenix and extends towards Yuma. Tribal leaders and conservation groups have urged protection of the area for years.
Cool idea: Pima County is expanding its use of free cooling centers, with the latest addition located at the Mission Annex facility, a former minimum-security jail, KJZZ’s Alisa Reznick reports. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends and includes water, chairs and AC. The centers are free to use and are part of the county’s Beat the Heat program, which has set up several dozen cooling sites around the county.
Not so fast: A Maricopa County judge has limited Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ ability to crack down on behavior at polling places, Capitol Media Services’ Howard Fischer writes. The judge has blocked Fontes from enforcing restrictions on everything from what people can wear to a prohibition on anything that harrasses a voter, saying the limitations would likely violate state and federal free speech laws. She said the provisions in the state’s election procedures manual are “vague, overbroad and serves as a universal prohibition on conduct.”
$15 million: The amount of money allocated towards pensions in South Tucson’s fiscal year 2025 budget.
After we published this story, South Tucson City Council Member Brian Flagg reached out to Susan to say that Diaz’s information about the holiday closures was not accurate.