By Steve Christy
As we reach mid-year, there’s been no shortage of issues that our region has been addressing, investigating and yes, perhaps even struggling with.
The possible incorporation of Vail and Corona de Tucson are a hot topic right now. We have lots of questions, and we hope we can obtain the most informative answers to help guide your decisions.
At the same time, we are faced with the prospect of the City of Tucson’s new differential water rate policy. What this means to those who reside in Pima County, outside any city’s limits, is that they may be faced with water rate increases of as much as 50%. This is a troubling development and one that needs our attention. I am told the County Administration is looking into its legal options.
And then all of us are collectively faced with on-going COVID-19 issues including vaccinations, mask-wearing policies and how they affect our schools as well as work-places, and daily lives. During the summer, the Board of Supervisors will meet once a month. Our meetings start at 9:00 am and air live on Cox, Comcast, Facebook, and Pima County’s website.
Through all of these challenges, there is some good news on our road-repair front. About a year and a half ago, you may recall that the Pima County Supervisors approved a Pay As You GO (commonly called PAYGO) program that banks the slight annual budget surplus to fund capital improvement projects, including road repair and pavement preservation. Earlier this year, we voted to accelerate the road repair program by using Certificates of Participation (low cost, short term loans, secured by Pima County assets) to increase the miles of roads repaired during the upcoming fiscal year.
The Southeast Region will be a significant beneficiary of this program with 27 miles of major roads in our region renewed, representing about $7 Million of projects. Area neighborhood roads will receive $3.29 Million of improvement, fixing 11 miles of roads. This all totals 38 miles of repaired and improved roads funneling $10.23 Million for our region. This is great news for all of us. You can view the roads being repaired in our area on my Pima County website.
While the challenges mentioned above will persist, know that much of our roads will be improved and that will help our lives, our community, and our economy. My team and I will continue to focus on what I believe is our number one issue, to “Just Fix the Roads”.
