Once again, the policy priority differences between my colleagues and myself surfaced in sharp relief during an October Board of Supervisors meeting.
There was a rarely seen, interesting agenda item entitled, “Potential Uses of Additional Fiscal Year 2025/26 Fund Balance for the FY 2026/27 Projects and Programs.” This is a formalized title for “Hey, we’ve found some extra money left-over! Let’s see how we can spend it!”
There seemed to be some sort of a stampede to come up with novel and unique ideas to spend this extra taxpayer revenue and my first reaction, as always, was, “Why do we need to spend it at all, and if we have to, why don’t we see how we can direct it to fixing our roads?” Always cognizant of the fact that my Board colleagues do not share my enthusiasm for county road repair and that such an idea would not gain traction, so to speak, amongst them, I took a close look at how the County Administrator suggested the extra funds be used.
Her proposals couched in those categories seemed to have merit. Of the roughly $13M in residual budget, three divisions were designated to be the recipients of the overage: Pima County Employee Investment – $8.97M, the One Pima Safety Initiative – $2.52M and Expansion of Court Operations to Accommodate Additional Judges – $1.9M. While the last two areas seemed acceptable, the Employee Investment plan caught my eye.
As a former long-time business owner, I know and understand just how difficult it is to attract, train and retain employees. Pima County has a significant shortage and need for certain employees, particularly in what can be referred to the skilled and specialized areas such as electricians, HVAC, construction, plumbing, equipment operators and other very focused job functions. Unfortunately, these neglected and most important job categories also receive some of the lowest compensation and benefits, while those same county employees are tasked with the toughest and most physically demanding responsibilities.
The County Administrators offerings seemed to address employee issues in an outdated manner and I offered what I thought would be an innovative and novel approach as an added benefit, that Pima County contribute $250 to Invest America Accounts – seeded at opening with $1K from the federal government – for the children of Pima County employees, matching computer icon Michael Dell.
Invest America Accounts can be used by the beneficiary at age 18 for continuing education, starting a business, purchasing a home, or be left untouched to compound as a retirement account versus the traditional 529 Plan which is restricted to qualifying higher education purposes.
Unfortunately, my colleagues didn’t embrace the benefits of Invest America Accounts and they batted away the whole idea as if it were a pesky fly, and that’s too bad. To create financial opportunity, with such a small initial investment, and for those would not normally have the knowledge or the flexibility to have access to such wealth accumulation and financial literacy, seemed like a no-brainer to me.
Normally, I probably would have supported all of the County Administrator’s recommendations, but without my Invest America Account plan included, I could not. I would be voting against my own proposal.
Perhaps you might consider starting an Invest America Account for your children or grandchildren. What a great way to give a child a head start in learning to save and invest, understand the power of compound interest, and in a relatively short time – at age 18 to have potentially several hundred thousand dollars to embark on their journey into adult life.
Later in the meeting, there was discussion of an item our office placed on the agenda entitled “Equitable Funding of Regional Chambers of Commerce”. It was an effort to make the previously announced funding of $25,000 to the four regional chambers from Project Blue land sale proceeds more equitable by increasing the allocations to $100,000 each, after the amount awarded to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce was increased to $250,000.
When I moved the item’s approval, a substitute motion was made to focus money on small business support like grants and comparable to what the Hispanic Chamber is doing with its funding, which failed on a split 2-3 vote, and the original proposal then failed 1-4. This was very disappointing, and I am confident the Greater Vail Chamber of Commerce would have utilized the additional funding to enhance its programs and offer small business grant opportunities.
My priorities remain infrastructure, road improvements, public safety, and economic development, with room for innovation in achieving them. Sadly, my colleagues lack that capacity or flexibility. We will persist in our advocacy for our community, and yes, I love being your Supervisor.
Pima County Supervisor Steve Christy, District 4
33 N. Stone Avenue, Floor 11
Tucson, AZ 85701
520-724-8094
district4@pima.gov
