There’s been plenty of attention to a proposal by Maricopa County Republicans to shut down the UA Poison Control Center and transfer some of its funding to a similar agency up in Maricopa County. Anne Denogean over at the Tucson Citizen had a good column summing up the reasons for having an operation in Southern Arizona that helps parents when their kids swallow something they’re not supposed to.

We hear that the latest proposal may cut funding from both the Tucson and Phoenix poison control centers in the current fiscal and then ask them to compete against each other for funding in the next fiscal year. One lives, one dies.

Guess a lot depends on the requirements spelled out in the Request for Proposals, eh?

This article appears in Jan 22-28, 2009.

Getting hassled by The Man Mild-mannered reporter

5 replies on “Live and Let Die”

  1. Putting aside the matter of whether Denogean’s piece can seriously be considered “good” (“good,” even allowing for venue), your statement, “Guess a lot depends on the requirements spelled out in the Request for Proposals, eh?” raises the question (not begs) of how we can view the RFP. Info, please…

  2. Hey, slow down there, Ten-Speed! The deal is still being worked out as part of the ongoing budget negotiations. We don’t even know if there will be an RFP. These things take time, no matter how it works on “24.” (I appreciate your distinction between “raises” and “begs,” BTW.)

  3. Thanks. So, first comes the Maricopaland legislatiom, then comes RFP? Then we get to see the RFP, if any?

    Just channeling Nintzel here, trying to understand the sequence…

  4. Right. First they have to solve this year’s budget shortfall. Both poison control centers are likely to face cuts in the fiscal year that ends June 30. Once that’s wrapped up, there will negotiations on the 2010 budget. For that fiscal year, lawmakers may ask the centers to compete for the dollars. That’s when the RFP will come out.

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