The Tucson City Council instructed the police to run off the homeless inhabitants of a small patch of grass near the western entrance of downtown Tucson… with election season upon us, and the boys from downtown trying to keep merchants alive after raising their rents… something had to be done….
Tucson’s Budget Earns Bipartisan Criticism
Following a public hearing Tuesday night, Tucson’s Mayor and Tucson City Council voted 6 to 1 vote to adopt the proposed Fiscal Year 2016 $1.368 billion Recommended Budget that according to Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik, “shifts money around and does nothing for the hole we’re facing next year.”
“Next year we will see another court decision related to Public Safety pensions. It will likely cost us north of $15M. We will also assume the cost of 25 police officers who will no longer be covered by a grant. That’ll add about $1M to our General Fund obligation to public safety. Add to that new costs for City Court operations and our contract with SW Gas, and we start off next fiscal year about $20M in the hole. The Star didn’t bother to tell you any of that,” wrote Democrat Councilman Kozachik in his newsletter written the day after the vote, “but our incoming City Manager is well aware. We’ll see how he plans to address these realities when he arrives in July.”
The Council also voted to consolidate the upcoming City and Pima County ballots. As a result, because the County only mails out ballots to people who have signed up for the Permanent Early Voter List (PEVL), approximately 80,000 people “won’t get a ballot in the mail without going to the County Recorder and specifically requesting it,” according to Kozachik.
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