Pima County’s JUST FIX THE ROADS Plan
Pima County Supervisor Steve Christy is advocating a new county sales tax of one-half cent to fund long-neglected Pima County road maintenance. For DH2 owners that means specifically Circulo de Las Lomas and Desert Ridge Road which are gateways into our community and have been for years a mine field of potholes and patches. That sorry condition has resulted in golf carts and autos speeding dangerously over DH2 private roads as a detour around the county’s crumbling asphalt. This is an especially bitter pill to swallow since we are now digging deep to fund our own private road replacement in 2020. To his credit, when Mr. Christy first took office he visited this community and many others, taking time to ride the roads and hear our concerns.
Desert Hills 2 Board of Directors as well as Green Valley Council view Christy’s proposal as favorable. It would bring an estimate $70 million in fiscal year 2019 and nearly $900 million over 10 years. Although approval would mean an extra $91 in sales tax payments every year for taxpayers. it has the virtue of tapping tourists and others passing through the county, whereas the current property tax is paid only by property owners. Since Governor Ducey’s response to pleas to raise the state gas tax to repair roads is “Not only no, but hell no!”options are limited to county property or sales tax increases.
This is the first proposal we have heard that generates an adequate dollar amount to fund over $1 billion needed to get all county roads to at least “fair” condition. Christy is proposing to rapidly repeal an already enacted property tax, and replace it with the sales tax proposal he has dubbed “Just Fix the Roads Plan” and will have a 10-year sunset provision. He needs a unanimous decision of the Board of Supervisors. That will take support from property owners like us. He also thinks the Regional Transportation Authority should oversee the revenues since they have earned the trust of voters over 11 years and have the seal of approval from a recent state audit that found their projects completed on time and on budget.
If you are inclined to support this effort, Supervisor Christy asks that you email all supervisors to vote for his “Just Fix the Roads Plan.” You might remind them that Green Valley voters have a 98 percent participation rate at the polls!
Pima County Supervisors:
Ally Miller
Ramon Valdez
Sharon Bronson
Steve Cristy
Richard Elias