Pima County Residents Opposing Discriminatory Water Rates
By Curtis Lueck
Our organization, Boycott Tucson Sales Tax, has been established to fight back against the differential water rates being imposed by the Mayor and Council upon Tucson water customers in the unincorporated areas of Pima County. The discriminatory increase is opposed by many individuals and organizations, including the City’s own panel of experts, the Citizens’ Water Advisory Council. Despite the opposition, the rates have been approved by Tucson Mayor and Council with a December 1, 2021 effective date. Although County residents can’t vote in City elections, we can make informed purchasing decisions that greatly affect Tucson’s sales tax revenue.
BTST’s primary mission is to inform Tucson Water customers of the unfair increase in water rates and to encourage them to prioritize their purchasing decisions so as to divert sales tax revenues away from Tucson to other jurisdictions. We believe that we can effectively divert two dollars of sales tax away from the City for every dollar raised by your proposed discriminatory water rate hikes. This would all be unnecessary if you had equity in the rate increase.
Our plan encourages that big-ticket purchases be made elsewhere, without harming small locally owned business such as restaurants, bookstores, and myriad local businesses in the Rio Nuevo District. But big ticket items such as cars and appliances can easily be purchased elsewhere, and often at significant savings over purchasing within City limits.
Tucson’s sales tax rate is 2.6%, which is over $1000 on a typical new car. Vehicle purchases can be made at Jim Click Ford in Sahuarita, Oracle Ford in Pinal County, in Nogales, and of course at Casa Grande and Phoenix dealers. Car purchases made out-of-state also avoid city sales tax entirely upon initial registration in Arizona. Anyone buying a new Tesla is already avoiding City sales tax because the purchase is made via a California entity.
As a rough estimate, every vehicle purchase diverted away from Tucson dealers will result in sales tax losses that exceed six years’ revenue gained from the differential rates for a typical residential water customer. Similarly for appliance and other major purchases, choices abound for conveniently buying outside the City. Major home improvement stores all have locations outside Tucson limits, and Costco.com provides free delivery and no city sales tax for those of us in the unincorporated area. Online appliance stores are very price competitive and most offer free shipping, so there’s no compelling reason to make these purchases in the City either.
Our campaign will be multifaceted and will start immediately. Early holiday shoppers can shift their purchases now and continue doing so throughout the holiday season and beyond. BTST has other strategies to aggressively promote as well. Unfortunately, we can’t think of a way to avoid paying the City sales tax that’s included in our monthly water bills.
CONTACT:
Curtis C Lueck, BTST Founding Organizer
BoycottTucsonSalesTax@gmail.com
BTST prepared a table showing how the rate increases impact customers in the unincorporated area.
Depending on usage and meter size, the increase ranges from about 9% for low-volume customers to over 20% for higher volume customers. Due to the complex structure of Tucson Water’s bills, it will be difficult if not impossible for many customers to reduce consumption to offset the price increase.
Tucson Water customers in municipalities will not pay the increased rates, only those of us in the unincorporated areas. How unfair is that! Fight back by shopping outside the Tucson City Limits.
Curtis Lueck is a retired professional civil engineer and transportation planning consultant. He specializes in funding and public policy issues. Lives in the Tucson Mountains, in unincorporated Pima County.
