County leaders are planning to increase spending for the Sheriff’s Department and road repairs — all without raising taxes.
Pima County supervisors are looking to pass a final budget on June 18. Meanwhile, the proposed tentative budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025, adopted at the May 21 board of supervisors meeting, is $1.7 billion. That’s a 1.9% reduction from the previous year.
The tentative budget passed 3-2, with supervisors Steve Christy of District 4 and Matt Heinz of District 2 voting no.
While the tentative budget is, indeed, tentative, it does cap the spending limit for Fiscal Year 2025, which begins July 1, 2024.
The county is recommending no change in the overall tax rate, which is $5.1048 per $100 of taxable net assessed value. Because it’s a flat tax rate, the average homeowner will likely see an increase of about $58 in their annual taxes because of increased valuations on homes. The average home in Pima County is valued at $224,000, according to the budget’s assessment, which would amount to an annual tax of about $1,144.
County administrators included an alternate proposal to increase the flat property tax rate by 10 cents, which would add an extra $11 million to the budget.
Heinz was a proponent of raising the tax rate, especially because, he explained, the county could be over-budgeting because the state could potentially shift some costs to Arizona counties when it finally passes its budget later this summer.
“We need to be fiscally prudent right now. If the cost shift from the legislature is so massive, we could be in trouble,” Heinz said at the May 21 meeting. He said the county could see “potentially really massive cost shifts.”
Supervisor Rex Scott, of District 1, said at the May 21 meeting that he encourages “all of my colleagues to vigorously oppose the motion” to hike taxes.
The proposed potential tax hike failed 3-2, with supervisors Heinz and Sylvia Lee, of District 3, voting yes.
County vacancies
According to a May 20 county memo, there are 950 vacant positions in the county.
Despite nearly a thousand positions left unfilled, Scott noted that the recommended budget calls for an increase in paid county positions.
“My vote on final approval will be largely contingent on whether or not the number of recommended positions is substantially reduced,” Scott said.
“We must demonstrate to our constituents that we have constructed a budget that ensures delivery of the services and supports they depend upon, but that also ensures there are only as many funded positions as required to do so.”
Department budgets
The county is proposing to spend more money on the Sheriff’s Department — over $170 million — than on any other department next year. That represents a minor increase in the sheriff’s budget compared to last year. In Fiscal Year 2024, which ends at the end of June, the department is estimated to go more than $10 million over the allocated budget.
The county plans to spend $173,000 for the Office of Housing Opportunities and Homeless Solutions, enough funding for one full-time employee.
Proposed changes to other department budgets include:
- Increase from $32 million to $37 million in the behavioral health department.
- The approximately $5 million budget increase is due mostly to the behavioral health department’s work in the jail. The department contracts Alabama-based for-profit medical provider, NaphCare, to deliver medical services to people detained in the Pima County jail. The department aims to pay for increased staffing to “provide additional services to intake, medication assisted treatment, medication administration, detainee sick call requests, infection control, OBGYN clinic, mental health, leadership, and discharge planning.”
- Decrease from $22 million to $17.8 million in parks and recreation.
- At the beginning of next fiscal year, the natural resources division of the parks and recreation department will be merged with the Office of Sustainability and Conservation and a new department is being created called Conservation Lands and Resources. The result will be smaller staff and budget for parks and rec.
- Increase from $46 million to $51 million for the county libraries, which are in their own tax district.
- Reasons for the increase, as detailed in the proposed budget, include: hiring at competitive rates; keeping pace with higher cost electronic resources; building renovations and new construction; and increased costs of physical books and materials.
- A $4 million increase for the county attorney’s office, from $41 million to $45 million.
- There are a number of reasons the county attorney’s office requested more funding for the coming fiscal year, including reinstating nine positions that were cut last year to balance the budget; the loss of federal funding for the Victims Services Division; updating old software; and increased online security to protect against possible hacks or data breaches.
The tentative budget also allocated $24.1 million for road repairs and preservation. According to a May 22 memo detailing road repairs, the county plans to repave or at least remediate more than 165 miles of county roads.
Other taxes
The Pima County Free Library District is intending to raise its secondary property taxes over last year’s level, according to the proposed budget. That slightly hiked rate (less than one cent on the dollar) is offset by the lowering of the debt service tax rate, with the final total tax rate being identical to last fiscal year.
In 2015, the state legislature passed a law requiring “Truth in Taxation notices,” in which counties must inform the public and hold public hearings for any tax increases.
The public hearing for the library and flood control districts will be held at 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 18 in the Board of Supervisors Hearing Room at the Pima County Administration Building, 130 W. Congress, First Floor. The hearing will be part of the regularly scheduled board meeting.
The meeting can also be streamed, viewed on YouTube, or viewed on Cox Cable Channel 96.
The Board is expected to adopt the final budget at the June 18 meeting.
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