The Pima County Board of Supervisors have a full plate before them at today’s Special Meeting. Aside from raising the tax rate on the property of residents in the 6th poorest metropolitan region in the country, the Supervisors will be voting to spend money on providing water for illegal entrants crossing into the country from Mexico, and suing the largest employer in the area.
Despite Raytheon’s win with the State Board of Equalization in 2011 against the County for its property valuation, County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry is pursuing Raytheon for more money. The State Board found that the assessed value of improvements on its property was $22 million as opposed to the $40 million value placed by the County Assessor.
The lawsuit is leaving residents in a quandary; the County says it hopes to be business friendly, but turns around and sues one of the biggest private employers in the area.
The Board’s vote today could authorize the expense of an additional $50,000 from the general fund to pay Brekan-Nava Group for expert consultation services regarding the Raytheon case. The additional $50,000 will bring the total value of the contract up to $100,000.
Contrary words and actions have marked the relationship between Raytheon and Pima County. Just a few years ago, County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry negotiated a deal to buy a “buffer zone” around Raytheon, claiming it was much needed to keep Raytheon from leaving the area. The property was bought at two hundred times it’s assessed value from Supervisor Sharon Bronson’s good friend Don Diamond.
Later, Huckelberry revealed that, in fact, Raytheon did not need the buffer. In order to head off complaints that the County paid too much, Huckelberry said the County could sell it off to a developer for a tech park and make a profit when the market was better.
The Board will consider spending over $22,000 to provide water to illegal border crossers as they make their way through the western half of Pima County on their way up to Phoenix, where they are then dispersed across the country. For years, the County has argued that the water service is part of a humanitarian mission; however, many say that the water is just one more thing that draws the desperate from Mexico to their deaths in Arizona’s desert. Open borders activist, Isabel Garcia, has fought for funding to be funneled through her non-profit organizations, including Derechos Humanos, for years. Two years ago, Garcia worked with the U.N. to develop a treaty which will grant land back to the “Indigenous Peoples” in Southern Arizona. That treaty has not yet been ratified by the United States.
The most controversial vote for the Supervisors today will be on the matter of the Julian Wash Greenway project. Pima County voters approved these bonds in 2004. Community Healthcare Benefit Foundation of Pima County has stepped in to pay the $3.325 million for the remaining Julian Wash improvements. In return, Pima County Supervisors will vote on whether to sign an IGA with Arizona Health Care and Cost Containment System Administration (also known as AHCCCS) to provide this same $3.325 million as the non-federal share of DSH (disproportionate share hospital) payments which allows 2 local hospitals, TMC and Carondelet St. Mary’s, to receive the benefits of 2 times matching funds from Medicaid. These two hospitals will receive a total of $9,736,456 from Medicaid if the IGA is approved by the board and executed.
Last year, the County used taxpayer dollars for this same type of arrangement, funding DSH payments from Medicaid via an agreement in which this same non-profit provided the funds to build a gymnasium in Supervisor Sharon Bronson’s district during this past election cycle in which Bronson faced opposition. Documents show Community Healthcare Benefit Foundation of Pima County was formed during that election cycle to fund the gymnasium and show TMC and Carondelet are a part of this foundation. DSH Matching funds were paid by Pima County taxpayers, and the two hospitals benefited from a 2 times match in funds from Medicaid.
Pima County has made the same maneuver with the UA Health South campus. Taxpayer funds of $15 million per year are used to give to ACCCHS, and then those funds are drawn back to UA Health South for graduate medical education. UA Health South’s doctors are not required to make a commitment to Pima County to remain in Pima County or in the state after having benefitted from the perquisite.
In addition to the $15 million from the 2012/13 budget which ended on June 30, 2013, the Supervisors voted to approve an additional $15 milion in excess funds left over in County coffers at year end go to ACCCHS which will also be drawn back as $45 million to UA Health South.
UA Health South pays $10 per year for lease of a $48 million building built with bonds paid for by taxpayers.
Huckelberry initially told the public that the $15 million was a lease payment; however, according to documents, UA Health South pays $10 (ten) a year for their lease. Essentially, they get the public property for free as well as $15 million from Pima County taxpayers.
Bond monies are not supposed to be spent on projects other than those the public has voted on. There is some flexibility in the use of bond monies; however, the flexibility is within the use as long as it is within the general scope of the project voters chose. Generally, bond monies cannot be used for a project outside of the general scope as it appears the County did according to County documents.
In 2004, Pima County voters approved a bond package included the Julian Wash Linear Park project. The project was estimated to cost $3.7 million.
According to a memo from Huckleberry dated July 15, in October 2011, the Board voted to approve the completion of the Julian Wash Greenway. The minutes of the meeting read: “Staff recommends approval and/or advancement of the following Greenway Projects at a cost of $9.83 million, funding for which will come from the bonds previously approved for these purposes.”
In the memo, Huckelberry argues that the Julian Wash “Loop” is “an essential element of community health and wellness.”
Pima County taxpayers pay one of the highest tax rates in Arizona.