Pima County voters will be asked to vote on a bond package this year that will probably break the last functioning backs in the area. Could it spur economic growth? Maybe, but not under the current leadership. Like all the money taxpayers have given them in the past, it will eaten away by the wasting disease which has plagued the region for years, which social scientists refer to as cronyitis.
Pima County sends bond to voters
The Pima County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution to approve sending a bond package stuffed with special interest groups’ projects to the voters November 3, 2015. The package was approved on March 13, 2015, by the Pima County Bond Advisory Committee (BAC).
The BAC recommended specific projects totaling $653,264,863. According to Supervisor Ally Miller, the cost to the average homeowner with a home assessed at $250K will be about $112 per year for this bond. The cost to hold an election for the proposed $815.8 million is about $2.3 million. Should voters approve the bond, Pima County will be at the maximum cap for the secondary property tax rate (set by the Supervisors in 2004 at $.8150), and the length of the bond program could last up to 20 years.
Miller was the only Supervisor who voted in favor of fiscal restraint, with her “no’ vote.