There is only one main paved road1 going into and out of Arivaca.
For residents of the tiny town of roughly 700 people, fixing the road that connects Interstate 19 and downtown Arivaca is a big priority. But that roughly 35-mile stretch has to compete for funding with nearly 2,200 miles of roadways in unincorporated Pima County.
The last time the winding, rural Arivaca Road received funding to repave sections was through the Regional Transportation Authority’s (RTA) initial 20-year plan, often referred to as RTA One.
That gets at a larger problem for Pima County.
Roads built or repaved with RTA funding outside the urban core often go unnoticed — and are frequently overlooked by critics who want to see more road repair money spent inside Tucson.
The urban-versus-rural debate has been a constant subtext of the debate around RTA One and RTA Next.
For example, yesterday we received an op-ed from a group of Democratic former city leaders — including former Tucson City Councilmembers Molly McKasson and Bruce Wheeler as well as former Pima County Supervisor David Yetman — arguing the RTA is a ripoff for Tucson residents because Tucsonans pay most of the taxes, yet much of the construction is done outside city limits.
"(W)e urge you to look at how little RTA-1 — the first Regional Transportation Authority plan — has done to improve our city these past 20 years, and how much of your money they’ve lavished, instead, on areas far outside Tucson city limits,” they wrote. “All of us are deeply concerned that the RTA Next special election coming up on March 10th is a rip off for Tucson residents. It is a guarantee of massive sprawl that will lower the quality of life in our city.”
But county officials argue the main road into Arivaca is a perfect example of how even rural roads are used by Tucson residents.
The roads that link Tucson to the rest of the county are critical for tourism and everyday commerce, they say, and the RTA has always been a region-wide plan to boost all of Pima County’s road infrastructure.
An aerial view of the Interstate 10 and 19 interchange. (Photo courtesy of the RTA.)
One common complaint across all jurisdictions that make up the RTA is that projects either run late or get folded into RTA Next. We wrote about the issues facing the City of Tucson two weeks ago.
But for Pima County, only two mainly county projects weren’t fully completed under RTA One — First Avenue from Orange Grove to Ina Road and the widening of the northern segment of Silverbell Road.
Both county projects have been folded into RTA Next, which goes before voters next month as Propositions 418 and 419.
Deputy County Administrator Carmine Debonis, who has worked for Pima County his entire career, said the problem with RTA One was that revenues fell short of expectations.
“Take into account the Great Recession and global pandemic, two big events that had some impact on the program and the funding that was generated,” Debonis told us.
In the RTA Next proposal, there are only a few projects located in unincorporated Pima County, including the proposed Sonoran Corridor, which would connect Interstate 10 and Interstate 19 south of Tucson International Airport.
RTA Next funding would also help advance the proposed Sonoran Corridor by acquiring property rights for roughly 20 miles of freeway and doing environmental assessments.
One project included in RTA Next is the Sonoran Corridor, a bypass for semi-trucks hoping to avoid driving through Tucson.
At the end of the day, Debonis said, the bigger issue for Tucson and Pima County residents is whether voters are willing to fund projects outside their immediate communities.
“The system is regional. People live in one jurisdiction and may work in another jurisdiction. They may live in a particular area of the region, but they come into downtown,” Debonis said.
Regional public transit is also a major issue — especially if voters reject RTA Next.
Bus routes outside the city, as well as paratransit services like Sun Van — which functions primarily as a safety net for people with disabilities — would be hit hard by cuts if the half-cent dedicated transportation sales tax sunsets later this year.
If voters reject RTA Next next month, any leftover funding would largely go toward construction projects already underway, forcing the City of Tucson and other municipalities to make difficult decisions about how to fund public transit.
Given the nature of the city’s budget crisis, it is not unrealistic to expect significant service cuts.
“The region is going to have to solve for the gaping hole in transit funding if RTA is not passed. And that is going to impact residents probably earlier if those routes have to be altered or if for any reason they need to be discontinued,” he said.
Still, Debonis said the RTA Next plan shows what jurisdictions can accomplish by working together, even after years of difficult negotiations.
“People, though, throughout (multiple RTA discussions) continually said that it's important that we partner as a region and come together to overcome the differences.”
Ballots for Propositions 418 and 419 are expected start being mailed today.
The takeaway from the Pima County Board of Supervisors’ budget retreat on Monday is that the county is doing better financially than the City of Tucson.
Current estimates put the county in the black at the end of the year.
That said, county officials are still kicking the tires on a few options to boost revenues in the future — including the possibility of asking voters to approve a $100 million bond next year. This number is still a rough estimate, but that figure has been mentioned in recent memos from County Administrator Jan Lesher.
We’ll note it has been more than 12 years since voters last approved a county bond. And that was to build a no-kill animal shelter. (Who would vote against that?)
The last time the public backed a Pima County bond, Barack Obama was the President of the United States
Putting a bond on the ballot this year would have been messy. Rushing would have forced the county to finalize a list of projects and stand up a citizen bond advisory committee before the deadlines to put it on the November ballot.
But that doesn't mean county officials don't have any ideas for November.
What might go on the ballot instead this fall is a request to ask the voters to approve a change to the county’s (state-imposed) expenditure limit. At the moment, the limit is approximately $762 million.
By raising the expenditure ceiling, the county would be allowed to spend more without increasing taxes, enabling it to use incoming revenues when they exceed the $762 million ceiling.
Residents also should expect the next budget to include a increase in property taxes, as Supervisors discussed proposed rate increases aimed at helping build more affordable housing, shoring up the Library District, and funding the flood control district.
There are also some fights ahead for next year’s county budget, as the county has roughly $30 million in unfunded requests from departments for the next fiscal year.
Supervisors are expected to start discussing those requests later this spring.
Break in the case?: FBI Director Kash Patel posted images on his Twitter account showing a person wearing a ski mask and carrying a gun at Nancy Guthrie’s house the night she disappeared. Patel said FBI agents were able to recover the images, which are the first showing the apparent perpetrator, by scouring data on a camera Guthrie had at her front door. Meanwhile, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos continues to struggle with answering questions, and he’s not happy that Sgt. Aaron Cross, a longtime critic of Nanos, is publicly saying Nanos screwed up the investigation, per Kim Smith of the Green Valley News.
“Now, you want to get picky that the sheriff speaks funny or talks off the cuff, or you can call him a buffoon or Barney Fife or whatever you want to call him,” Nanos said. “The haters are going to hate, but my local media, you included, know me. You know what I'm about, and you know I've always been a pretty much open book. You ask me a question, I'm going to answer it. That's just the way it is.”
Data center pushback grows: Marana residents are trying to get a measure on the ballot that would allow them to decide whether huge data centers can be built in their town, which could be the first in a wave of citizen actions against data centers, Jeremy Duda reports for Axios Phoenix. Political consultants are saying data center companies might need to plan for ballot measures opposing their projects. But ballot measures can only happen when an official action, like a rezoning, is involved, and even then, they’re hard to pull off if thousands of signatures need to be gathered and there isn’t an organized group behind it.
You can’t put a measure on a ballot if you don’t know what the problem is. Support local journalism by upgrading to a paid subscription.
Needing a passport to go to school: As officials at TUSD prepare students and staff for the potential of ICE agents coming on campus, school leaders are looking to Chicago Public Schools as a template and thinking through “what-if” scenarios, like what would happen if ICE approached students while they were away from campus on a field trip, the Arizona Luminaria’s Shannon Conner reports.
“My three kids now have copies of their passports and birth certificates in their backpacks,” TUSD Governing Board President Dr. Ravi Shah said at a board meeting. “And I know my second grader still doesn’t know exactly why this is happening and what’s going on.”
It was just time: After announcing his plan to step down as Tucson’s police chief, Chad Kasmar says he’s not looking to take over as Pima County administrator, even though he’d be on the short list when he takes on his new gig as deputy county administrator, Arizona Daily Star columnist Tim Steller writes.
Street safety: Tucson officials are installing a half-dozen new HAWK pedestrian crossing signals (High-Intensity Activated CrossWalk), and they’re starting at the intersection of Euclid and Second Street, where three University of Arizona students died in a wreck last October, per KGUN’s Don Davis. The contract for the new safety signals was funded by Proposition 411, also known as Better Streets, Safe Streets, that voters approved in 2022. City officials plan to install more than 60 HAWK signals in the coming years.
This is one testimonial you won’t find in Visit Tucson brochures.
As we sift through the thousands of references to Tucson2 in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein files, we found… this.
A 2018 email features an unexpected lovefest about Tucson between convicted felon Steve Bannon and linguist Noam Chomsky — who were put in touch via Epstein.
Bannon — who makes frequent trips to visit his brother here — declared Tucson “one of my favorite places in the country.”
It’s unclear what Bannon loves about Tucson.
But he does have local ties.
He reportedly bought a $1.55 million home in Oro Valley in 2022.
Plus, he worked at Biosphere 2 for years, received an award from the U.S. Border Patrol in Tucson, stumped for Trump-backed candidates here in 2018, and did some light 2019 fundraising in town for his build-the-wall nonprofit.
And just to close the loop: Bannon pleaded guilty in 2025 in a New York court to felony charges including fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy related to that build-the-wall nonprofit.
1 Yes, Arivaca Road goes to Sasabe and then loops back to Three Points if you take Highway 286, but that is one hell of a detour. We are also not counting the dirt road that links Arivaca to Ruby Road.
2 Some files in the database are either duplicated emails or have multiple entries due to an email thread mentioning Tucson.