The Pima County Board of Supervisors have approved a new policy which will repair all of the county’s roads in 10 years and fund other infrastructure projects.
On Nov. 5, the board unanimously approved the policy which will use the General Fund to pay for capital infrastructure projects in the county, including roads in unincorporated areas.
It is a policy similar to one already being utilized in Maricopa County, and will be used by the county administrator to craft a recommended budget each year.
The Pay-As-You-Go plan (PAYGO) will provide $10 million next fiscal year for road repair, along with an additional $16 million of Transportation Department funding. Several other county departments, like the wastewater department, already use PAYGO plans for their infrastructure needs.
The majority of PAYGO funds will be used for road repairs and will later primarily fund projects identified in the Integrated Infrastructure Plan.
Funding for PAYGO will come from a percentage of growth in the overall county tax base and from recapturing a portion of the taxes no longer needed to pay off bonds, while also reducing the combined county property tax rate over time.
The Board of Supervisors voted to apply 60 percent of the tax base increase to PAYGO when the county’s annual budget is being crafted. They are also directing the county administrator to reduce the primary tax rate to provide relief for the remaining 40 percent of growth in the tax base.
The county anticipates that the amount of money needed to pay off its bond debts will decline significantly in coming years, and so the tax rate needed to pay off debts can be reduced year-over-year, declining to zero in ten years.
“This PAYGO plan will provide us the funding to make sure our critical infrastructure is maintained and that we’re meeting the needs of a growing population, while at the same time providing tax relief to county taxpayers. It is a win-win plan that still gives the board the flexibility to determine funding priorities every year,” said County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry in a release.
To learn more about the PAYGO plan, see Huckleberry’s memo to the board here.
This article appears in Oct 31 – Nov 6, 2019.
It doesn’t matter if they reduce the property tax rate over time, because they increase the valuation over the same time causing an increase in property taxes. It’s a political shell game to find Waldo.
That is unless you’re Huckleberry Hound. Why not donate some more road money to El Tour? That always seems to get swept under the rug.
Arizona Native – The county doesn’t increase valuations – the market does. From one Native to another, that’s called inflation.
The county needs to stop funding road construction for far flung developments that can’t pay for their infrastructure maintenance over time.
Not sure boys but if the market increased valuations, the market would also decrease valuations. Yet taxpayers had to fight to get the “market” to lower taxes when the home values dropped. If you think it through it is simply a penalty on success as the higher you can claim the value is, the more revenue the government gets. Unless the top 20% are being forced to pay for the lower 80%.
Everything comes down to votes and money. To hell with fairness.
“and I believed in its fairness and dignity in doing business there.” Now, he says, he thinks differently.
https://reason.com/2019/11/06/a-michigan-man-underpaid-his-property-taxes-by-8-41-the-county-seized-his-property-sold-it-and-kept-the-profits/
We are not unique to government over reach.
Note that their whole strategy lies in adding a layer of cost to government, not reorganizing or motivating in a way to get their $351 million per year in tax collections to do more. Or, getting Tucson to do more with their $125 million per year in state shared revenues.
The county is only a small part of this equation with their 2,300 miles of street. The bigger question is the city with its horrendous street conditions. But, the county can provide leadership for city outcomes.
What is their crack sealing program? What is the quality control on that crack sealing program?
What percentage of rubber are they putting into their asphalt mix? This is a critical question. Investing in rubber in your asphalt mix is one of the best ways to extend the life of your pavement.
Over the 9 years, 09 to 18, Pima County and by extension Tucson, grew zero jobs while Maricopa County grew 262,000 jobs.
Prior to one of my trips to Tucson, I threw all the street sections of Tucson into a database and pulled a random sample. I mapped out that sample in one square yard squares and measured the cracks in the road with a tape measure. Tucson has a little over 4,000 lane miles of streets, but they can be proud of more than 318,000 miles of cracks.
This has a huge effect on economic development. People don’t want to go into communities where the infrastructure screams “bad management” and “bad leadership” at them.
A community is not a community if it is unable to attract the business capital necessary to provide its high school and college graduates with jobs.
When will the institutions of Pima County, county government, city government and their school district quit being parasites and start adding real measurable value?
One might say that leadership in Tucson is addicted to crack.