For years, Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry and the Democrats on the Pima County Board of Supervisors have complained that Arizona’s Republican-controlled legislature has “swept” HURF funds away from struggling counties leaving them with little to maintain their roads, when in fact, only 4% of those funds have actually been swept away by the legislature since 1997. This has been a convenient excuse for the Pima County Board of Supervisors in order to hide behind their neglect of one of the most basic services of county government.
They were swept away, but not by the Legislature.
HURF funds are gas tax dollars set aside for road repair and maintenance across Arizona. While those funds are shrinking due to better fuel economy in newer vehicles and the rising popularity of electric vehicles, over $841 million in HURF revenue has been received by Pima County since 1994. Of this, only $34 million total was swept by the state legislature over the last 12 years. This amounts to a drop in the bucket relative to the funds received.
Chuck Huckelberry and the Board of Supervisor’s solution to this problem….pass a resolution to increase your gas tax by 10 cents a gallon. District 1 Supervisor Ally Miller was the lone vote against this gas tax. “We don’t need a gas tax increase…We need fiscally responsible governance. Pima County residents can ill afford another tax. Enough is enough!” said Miller.
In 1997, Pima County voters approved $350 million in HURF bonds, not knowing this meant no road repairs since the bonds were to be paid back with HURF funds. Those bonds were supposed to be used for new road capacity. What the voters didn’t understand when they voted was they approved using HURF, or road repair monies, to pay their bond debt.
As a result, the county roads look bad, but the books look good. The cost for the neglect is experienced on a daily basis by commuters who must absorb the high cost of car repairs.
According to an investigation by Supervisor Ally Miller, over $167 million of HURF has been diverted from road repair and maintenance to cover bond debt since 2004. This left $641 million available for road repair since 1994. The money didn’t go to roads. She states more than 80% of the calls to her office from constituents are a result of the poor/failed roads in her district which has the highest rate of failed roads in Pima County.
That Bond debt has resulted in a shell of a courthouse that the County started with $76 million in bonds. Since then, the county has funded $22 million out of the general fund and just this past month another $22 million in Certificates of Participation were issued to complete the interior of this building. They issued more debt with the courthouse as security.
The County’s Department of Homeland Security Emergency Services building sits nearly empty after other jurisdictions, that had once considered occupying the complex, opted out due to the fact that the cost was prohibitive. This facility was bonded in 2004 for $100 million. An additional $15 million in federal grant money was received. This facility is slated to open in 2014, and maintenance costs are estimated to be close to $1 million per year.
Over the years, Pima County Administrator Huckelberry has spent money how and when he wanted, while building a PR department that provides cover to an oblivious Board of Supervisors.
Failed Pima County Supervisor candidate, Mike Hellon, told the public at a candidate forum last year that Chuck Huckelberry has piles of money that he “stashes” throughout his 20 different departments. Hellon claims that Huckleberry can find money when he needs to.
Hellon offered an example of the games played with money at the public forum in which he describes calling Huckelberry. Hellon bragged, “I am the guy who did get the $10 million. And I know where there is another $10 million.”
Hellon went on further, “For three years, Pima County spent zero on scheduled roadway maintenance. Zero. Total neglect by the Board of Supervisors and the County Manager. I called Chuck and said I’m coming after you. We have to do something about the roads. I am giving you fair warning.”
Because Hellon was Huckelberry preferred candidate in the Republican field, Huckelberry reached into one of the previously referred to stashes, and Violá – found $10 million. Mike Hellon bragged of his ability to fix these roads with the monies he received during his election. Other than a few carefully selected neighborhoods, like Las Lomitas, Pima County residents saw little improvement in the roads.
Currently, the County is expected to spend most of its transportation dollars on salaries, which in other jurisdictions would be paid out of the General Fund. Only $5 million is set aside for roads, split between 5 districts for the current fiscal year.
According to the Fiscal Times, “The cost to resurface one mile of road with asphalt can run about $50,000, whereas major rehabilitation can cost $500,000.” At that rate, Pima County residents have little hope of seeing more than 8 miles of road repaired in their districts in the next year.
The most recent bond survey comments were loud and clear. “Stop spending our money” and “Fix our roads” were among the 600 comments received via that survey. Just this week, Chuck Huckelberry sent a memo recommending the Bond Election be pushed out to at least 2015 and is now considering more money for road repair.
The Pima County Bond Advisory Committee unanimously agreed Friday that it would be “prudent” to defer a future countywide bond election to at least 2015. With the tax base shrinking more than 23 percent from Fiscal Year 2009/10 – and with no anticipated increase in the tax base until three years out – and mounting opposition to Huckelberry spending practices, the Committee found that “it would not be wise to raise the voluntary tax rate cap that was put in place to provide certainty to voters.”