It's Time To Pay Your Growth Bill... ON TUESDAY, MAY 20, Pima County voters will be asked to approve eight bond items ranging from jails to open space, flood control to parks. This task has been made necessary--or is alleged to be--by the county's ever-increasing population growth. None of what voters are being asked to approve really enhances our quality of life here, but failure to pass some of these proposals could diminish it. The game is called "pay up and stay even." The bond proponents claim voter approval will not require an increase in taxes. Of course this is sophistry. As existing bonds are paid off, the secondary tax rate in Pima County would decline--if not renewed by the approval of these new bonds. There is no such thing as a free lunch. ITEM ONE Juvenile Court, $42 million: The one thing growing even faster than the population is juvenile crime. There are few real alternatives to expanding the only system we have, imperfect as it is, to handle the problem. To oppose this measure would require a degree of irresponsibility to which few will confess. Partly attributable to growth, partly to bad sociology, but needed nonetheless. VOTE YES. ITEM TWO Public safety, law enforcement, superior court, $50 million: See above. More people means more crime means more jail and court space. Could we alleviate the problem by radical approaches like decriminalizing drugs? Maybe, but that's not the question. The question is what to do for now. VOTE YES. ITEM THREE Parks, $52.7 million. City residents get shortchanged by this package. Even though people in the city pay the majority of the property tax bill, Tucson's parks will receive only one-quarter of the total funds. And because most of the proposed city projects are on the edge of the community, the center of town gets even less. Some quiet opposition to this item comes not from anti-tax folks, but from those who feel the public parks have been taken away from the public and are hangouts for dopers, crooks, and gangs. Once upon a time parks were desirable neighbors--now people aren't sure. Nonetheless, part of having a real community means having parks for programs and kids, and our failure to properly police them isn't enough reason to quit having them. Growth means we need more. A RELUCTANT YES. ITEM FOUR Open space and historic preservation, $36 million. Probably the most important decision the voters will make. This doesn't save or preserve as much as it could have, and much of it wouldn't have to be purchased if gutless pols hadn't rezoned too much of it in the past. But it's now or never--they aren't making any more new ironwood forests. A lot of it is state land currently held under the "development first" mentality that has always pervaded our laws. The Chamber of Commerce and the Southern Arizona Homebuilders Association don't like this one, which is a pretty good reason to vote for it--those freaks actually believe undeveloped land is inherently bad. Good thing they weren't in charge when we did Yosemite and the Grand Canyon. The argument that this item will take more land off the tax rolls is BS. The private land earmarked for purchase is almost entirely covered by agricultural exemptions, so the owners have never paid any taxes anyway--and won't until they throw some tract homes on it. Those tract homes never generate as much tax revenue as they cost in services, so you could look upon the open-space purchase as a long-term tax savings. It's probably cheaper to pay developers not to build houses. And all you shooting-sports types should remember there's a new rifle range in here for the Tangerine Road/I-10 area. Send a message to the cementheads who oppose this package. VOTE YES! YES! YES! ITEM FIVE Public Health, Recreational, and Cultural Facilities, $42 million. A true grab bag of stuff, with every political constituency imaginable being given something. Projects range from $2 million for a mid-town library--if they'd leave the libraries they have open longer and put a few more books in them, we'd be more sympathetic--to $1.5 million for a performing arts center in Green Valley. Another $1.5 million is included to build a charter school for vocational instruction, and $9 million is slated for renovation and new construction projects at Kino Health Campus There's almost $6 million for fire-sprinkler improvements and asbestos removal at the county's financial white elephant of a building located at 32 N. Stone Ave. (And who were the dumb bastards who bought this building full of asbestos in the first place?) Finally, $10 million is included to provide grants up to $150,000 each to "high-stress" neighborhoods. We're beginning to smell the pork. Make your own call. NO RECOMMENDATION. ITEM SIX Flood Control, $21.5 million. Can you say "development subsidy?" Here's a classic example. Parts of this item are earmarked for the Town of Marana. Well, isn't that special? Aren't those the same bozos who think what they do is none of our business, regardless of the effect it has on the rest of us? Send the rubes in Dogpatch a message: Pay for your own damn flood control, and quit making more flood-prone land by bulldozing and clear-cutting everything in sight! And if you can't find the money, try imposing a property tax on Marana residents like they have in Tucson. Why should Tucson residents pay more on their house tax so you can skate? About $13.5 million is included for soil cementing and other work along the Santa Cruz River. Of the remainder, projects in South Tucson would get $1.4 million, those in Green Valley $1.25 million, and inside the city limits only $4 million. So city residents get the short end of the financial stick and the Santa Cruz gets cemented. VOTE NO--HELL NO! ITEM SEVEN Solid Waste Improvements, $12.5 million. All that new growth has loaded up the garbage system, which apparently means it's time for the rest of us to cough up for the pyramid scheme to continue. Part of this item--$5 million--is scheduled to develop and open what is being called a "Regional Facility." That's the landfill they should have built, but didn't, a while back. Oddly, they still have that $1-million piece of dirt in the middle of nowhere that then-supervisor Ed Moore got idiot colleagues Paul Marsh and Mike Boyd to buy. Maybe they should sell that first, before asking for more. The remainder of the money will go toward complying with environmental regulations and to expand the Sahuarita landfill. If the Board of Supervisors and Tucson City Council could ever agree on a regional landfill site, this package will make sense. If not, there goes another $5 million. Tell you what--when the current supervisors start a real recycling program, not the curbside feel-good subsidies for the big trash haulers they have now, tell them to call us. Otherwise, this item looks like just another developer subsidy. VOTE NO. ITEM EIGHT Sewer System Revenue Bonds, $105 million. Does yours flush now? So does ours. So this must be for all those new folks moving into those endless stucco boxes outside of town. The proponents have made their whole argument around the fact that these are revenue bonds to be paid for by increased sewer revenues, and not taxes. Right they are--and who'll be paying the higher sewer fees? You. These bonds would be paid by raising everyone's sewer bill more than 27 percent. Figure the average Joe will be paying $3 more a month, uh, for the next 20 years. Connection fees to the sewer system would also increase significantly. The argument that the new folks will pick up the costs is as big a lie as it has always been--they're hitting you one more time, but in a different pocket. Most of the money would be spent to support sprawl development. About $65 million is included to expand the Ina Road Wastewater Treatment Plant to accommodate new growth in Marana, Oro Valley and the unincorporated areas of the northwest side. Two projects in Green Valley, which are needed because of growth, would receive $4.5 million. Another $2 million is slated for a new wastewater treatment plant in Marana, which, we're told, is needed "for projected future development"--sure, we'd be happy to subsidize that gigantic, crappy RedHawk "planned community," just like bazillionaire developer David Mehl expects us all to. Instead of raising everyone's bills so new suburban residents can flush their toilets, the Board of Supervisors has another way to finance these projects. They could add all of the expenses onto the current sewer system connection fee charge. While this would send that fee through the roof, it would mean, at least for sewers, new growth was paying for itself. The question that needs to be answered now is: "Who will pay for the continued growth of metropolitan Tucson?" For far too long, every taxpayer has been given an annual tax bill to help finance growth. While we all pay the price for that growth, a few very wealthy people in town get even wealthier at the expense of the rest of us. It's time to stop the subsidy. Take growth off of public assistance and make it pay its own way. VOTE NO--A REALLY BIG NOOOOOOOO! FINALLY, THE BOARD of Supervisors, recognizing that the public has been constantly screwed on bond proposals when elected bodies ultimately spend the money for things never mentioned in those proposals, has passed an ordinance requiring them to at least have a public hearing and a specific vote should they seek to redirect any funds. That was a good move, and they should be applauded for it. Unfortunately, there are many voters who still don't believe or trust them. We don't, either.

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