The Daily Agenda: The price of local government

Tucson and Pima County officials vote on budgets tomorrow ... $4 billion in taxpayer dollars in play ... Thousands of Arizonans want to vote in Mexico election.

How much does it cost to keep a city and a county running? If you live in Tucson and Pima County, it comes to $4.1 billion in taxpayer dollars.

Tomorrow morning, the Pima County Board of Supervisors is going to vote on a $1.7 billion tentative budget. Later in the day, the Tucson City Council is going to vote on a $2.4 billion tentative budget of its own, as we wrote about in Friday’s newsletter.

Just like at the city council, the county supervisors faced headwinds as they put together their fiscal 2025 budget over the past few months. The big budget issues at the county ranged from the state Legislature shifting an estimated $121 million in costs to Pima County, to county officials deciding to eliminate hundreds of vacant positions, to the winding down of federal Covid-relief funds.

Last month, it looked like the county was going to have a $18 million budget deficit for the coming year. But making 2% spending cuts to departments and reducing funding to outside agencies would balance the budget for fiscal 2025, according to County Administrator Jan Lesher.

A slide from county staff’s budget presentation on May 7.

Tucson officials are expecting to spend $178 million more than they did in the current year. But over at the county, they’re expecting to spend $34 million less, as Lesher wrote in a memo to the board, which includes a detailed explanation of what’s in the budget.

The vote tomorrow will cap how much the county can spend in the coming fiscal year. Supervisors can move money around, but they aren’t allowed to spend any more than what’s in the tentative budget. They’ll adopt the final budget June 18.

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In light of the state shifting costs to counties, Supervisor Matt Heinz wants to keep the option of raising property taxes on the table. He’s brought it up several times at recent meetings and he plans to do it again on Tuesday.

Last month, Lesher recommended the county keep its property tax rates unchanged for the coming year. Even if they don’t raise those rates, officials expect to get $31 million more in property tax revenue next year than they did this year, due to the value of property in the county going up.

In his pitch to his colleagues on the board, Heinz noted the property tax rate has fallen pretty steadily since the aftermath of the Great Recession. Tomorrow, he wants to discuss raising the rate by nine cents, which would cost the average homeowner $20 every year.

He said that would generate $10 million for conservation efforts, affordable housing, the county’s contingency fund, or any policy in the county’s Prosperity Initiative.

The next step in the county’s budget process after tomorrow’s board meeting is a Truth in Taxation hearing June 18. Even if the supervisors decide to leave the property tax rate alone, the revenue from property taxes is going up, so state law says they have to hold a hearing.

After county officials set their spending cap tomorrow, they’ll also keep an eye on the state Legislature, where legislators and Gov. Katie Hobbs are still wrangling together a state budget.

Legislators are a fickle bunch. That $121 million the state shifted to Pima County could change, for worse or for better.

You can watch the supervisors’ meeting at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday on the county’s YouTube channel and read the agenda here.

The more you know: Some Tucson Water customers will be getting free smart meters, thanks to $6 million in new state conservation grants, the Arizona Daily Star’s Tony Davis reports. Tucson Water service technicians respond to more than 3,000 leaks a year, but smart meters can help detect leaks faster through continuous monitoring and data analysis. Advocates say smart meters can also educate homeowners and businesses about best paths toward water conservation.

Finally starting: Work to widen Grant Road between Swan Road and Sparkman Boulevard begins today, after decades of planning, the Tucson Sentinel’s Jim Nintzel writes. The $63.3 million project has an estimated completion date of October 2026 and will include landscaped medians, five-foot bike lanes, wide sidewalks, public art, new bus pullouts and other features. For the first nine months, work will take place between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. The project is considered phases 3 and 4 of the Grant Road corridor work.

Costly remarks: The Star’s Tim Steller writes about Pima County Attorney Laura Conover’s involvement in the criminal and civil cases of Louis Taylor, who spent 42 years in prison in connection with the 1970 Pioneer Hotel Fire. Steller writes about Conover’s 2022 decision to not vacate Taylor’s conviction, saying that her first term is marked by her flip-flopping on the case.

“By her own description during the 2020 campaign, Taylor’s questionable 1972 conviction for the Pioneer Hotel fire helped inspire her career. She said in Facebook comments that year that Taylor ‘should have been compensated in my humble opinion,’” Steller writes. “When she took office, Conover had a chance to do something about it. In the end, she didn’t take that chance.”

The other election: Mexican voters living in the United States will soon vote in a June 2 presidential election where they’ll have the chance to elect the country’s first woman president, Arizona Luminaria’s Beatriz Limón writes. In Arizona, 50,901 Mexicans submitted credentials to vote at the Mexican consulate in Phoenix. Limón spoke to several Mexican citizens in Arizona who said the chance to vote in the upcoming election makes them feel closer to their home country.

Eviction officials: Arizona Public Media’s Paola Rodriguez talks to Pima County Constable Eric Krznarich about constables’ role in the housing crisis, with 12,993 evictions filed last year in Pima County. Rents have risen roughly 35% since 2020, and despite a recent decrease in eviction filings and a slower rate of rent increases, local experts stress the need for large-scale solutions to prevent eviction and homelessness

Closing arguments today: Lawyers representing the man accused of fatally shooting University of Arizona Professor Thomas Meixner recalled a psychologist who evaluated accused shooter Murad Dervish after the shooting, KVOA’s Megan Spector reports. Dervish is using an insanity defense, with his lawyers questioning the psychologist’s diagnosis of him post-shooting. Closing arguments are set for today, after which the jury will begin deliberating.

$872,990: The added cost to Pima County’s Facilities Management budget after Tucson Electric Power raised rates. Other county departments also reported needing more money to cover higher electric bills.