It’s time to drag out that old study about forming a metro government with Tucson and Pima County. (Of course, based on the perceived “successes” of PAG, the RTA and Rio Nuevo, there may not be a huge appetite for metro anything). Pima County is urbanized and cities can no longer depend on state-shared revenues, even those that are built into the state constitution. Perhaps the old “doughnut” city to surround Tucson deserves another look (and an explanation for those who forgot the concept).
Yes, you did it: You wrote about Tucson's budget without being boring.
That said, not enough is written by you, or anyone else for that matter, about the elephant in the room who as you mentioned is clearly responsible for the worldwide chaos created by Trump.
I'd like more reporting on how Trump's and his family's personal fortunes are growing while so many people, businesses and local governments are traumatized by Trump's flagrant grifting and abuse of power.
I just want to say that I am pleasantly surprised by how accessible councilmembers and supervisors are for a city this size. I moved here from a smaller city and I have already had direct contact from my councilmember in ward 2 and supervisor in district 1. For what it’s worth, I think they are actually open to listening to community members’ gripes when said community members come with solutions (especially solutions that involve cost sharing/savings or use of existing resources). If it’s newsworthy and aligned with the Agenda’s news values, it could be worth writing a piece with tips about how to engage with local leaders, which is a bit different than engaging with state and federal electeds.
It is hard to evaluate municipal budgeting in the absence of an understanding of its long-term liabilities, such as pensions, deferred maintenance, and future infrastructure replacement obligations. Such matters seldom or never appear in such discussions, and only current cash receipts and debt service are ever even considered. Also relevant to many municipalities, including Tucson, are our relationships, contracts, and payment flows with major utility entities such as water, electricity, and solid waste. Next, which many Tucsonenses are aware of, we have regional financial flows and obligations through memoranda of understanding and contracts with other regional governments for regionalized services. These complexities make it very hard for average citizens, at least those few who have the interest and knowledge to follow municipal budgeting discussions, to understand the real long-term financial position and trajectory of the city. It would be a big service to the public to seek to inject those long-term financial obligations into the discussion.
Another item that is seldom closely examined when municipal budgets are wrangled is the unmet service needs that often result when meeting short-term shortfall crises (of which we have had our share in recent decades). This can be difficult to evaluate, but it is often hinted at in held-open positions (jobs for the city that are left unfilled to make the budget work). Frequently, even those open positions underestimate or understate the unmet service needs of residents.
Finally, scoping is often overlooked or simply assumed from prior years' decisions. Is the city doing things that are better done by civil society, non-profits, or private business? Are there significant gaps in residents' needs for services that no one other than the city government can effectively do?
I can't pretend that I have a good handle on any of these matters regarding Tucson, and following this sort of thing is something that I am actually interested in. If you fine people have the bandwidth and interest, I would encourage the Agenda to consider taking a look at these matters that don't appear on the balance sheet, or are not carefully considered and analyzed, if they are.
I’d like to see the Prosperity Initiative take priority in our spending. These are researched policies to create a stronger long-term economic community through targeted investments.
The Community Service Officers seem to be doing nothing. When we see them in Reid Park they are always on break, chatting with each other and smoking. Fire them all and use the money to fund more police officers.
Also can that $40 million path through the golf course at Reid Park. How absurd is that?
It’s time to drag out that old study about forming a metro government with Tucson and Pima County. (Of course, based on the perceived “successes” of PAG, the RTA and Rio Nuevo, there may not be a huge appetite for metro anything). Pima County is urbanized and cities can no longer depend on state-shared revenues, even those that are built into the state constitution. Perhaps the old “doughnut” city to surround Tucson deserves another look (and an explanation for those who forgot the concept).
Yes, you did it: You wrote about Tucson's budget without being boring.
That said, not enough is written by you, or anyone else for that matter, about the elephant in the room who as you mentioned is clearly responsible for the worldwide chaos created by Trump.
I'd like more reporting on how Trump's and his family's personal fortunes are growing while so many people, businesses and local governments are traumatized by Trump's flagrant grifting and abuse of power.
I just want to say that I am pleasantly surprised by how accessible councilmembers and supervisors are for a city this size. I moved here from a smaller city and I have already had direct contact from my councilmember in ward 2 and supervisor in district 1. For what it’s worth, I think they are actually open to listening to community members’ gripes when said community members come with solutions (especially solutions that involve cost sharing/savings or use of existing resources). If it’s newsworthy and aligned with the Agenda’s news values, it could be worth writing a piece with tips about how to engage with local leaders, which is a bit different than engaging with state and federal electeds.
It is hard to evaluate municipal budgeting in the absence of an understanding of its long-term liabilities, such as pensions, deferred maintenance, and future infrastructure replacement obligations. Such matters seldom or never appear in such discussions, and only current cash receipts and debt service are ever even considered. Also relevant to many municipalities, including Tucson, are our relationships, contracts, and payment flows with major utility entities such as water, electricity, and solid waste. Next, which many Tucsonenses are aware of, we have regional financial flows and obligations through memoranda of understanding and contracts with other regional governments for regionalized services. These complexities make it very hard for average citizens, at least those few who have the interest and knowledge to follow municipal budgeting discussions, to understand the real long-term financial position and trajectory of the city. It would be a big service to the public to seek to inject those long-term financial obligations into the discussion.
Another item that is seldom closely examined when municipal budgets are wrangled is the unmet service needs that often result when meeting short-term shortfall crises (of which we have had our share in recent decades). This can be difficult to evaluate, but it is often hinted at in held-open positions (jobs for the city that are left unfilled to make the budget work). Frequently, even those open positions underestimate or understate the unmet service needs of residents.
Finally, scoping is often overlooked or simply assumed from prior years' decisions. Is the city doing things that are better done by civil society, non-profits, or private business? Are there significant gaps in residents' needs for services that no one other than the city government can effectively do?
I can't pretend that I have a good handle on any of these matters regarding Tucson, and following this sort of thing is something that I am actually interested in. If you fine people have the bandwidth and interest, I would encourage the Agenda to consider taking a look at these matters that don't appear on the balance sheet, or are not carefully considered and analyzed, if they are.
I’d like to see the Prosperity Initiative take priority in our spending. These are researched policies to create a stronger long-term economic community through targeted investments.
I agree! As a new Tucsconan (moved here in 2022), I’d love to see the Agenda write a summary/ feature of the propserity initiative.
The Community Service Officers seem to be doing nothing. When we see them in Reid Park they are always on break, chatting with each other and smoking. Fire them all and use the money to fund more police officers.
Also can that $40 million path through the golf course at Reid Park. How absurd is that?