(July 27, 2023) Investing in nonprofits: Pima County supervisors approved $3.6 million in Outside Agency grants Tuesday for use in the 2023/24 fiscal year, which began July 1. The Outside Agency program supports nonprofits that collaborate with the county to provide public assistance for social services, health and economic development. It targets economically disadvantaged and other at-risk populations, ensuring that support is provided to meet basic needs and services in rural areas. Funding will go to 49 agencies that administer 77 programs. The largest beneficiary was the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, which will receive $456,305 for four programs. (Tucson Agenda)

(August 1, 2023) It’s hard to drive down Miracle Mile without noticing the empty lot that used to be occupied by Golden Pin Lanes, its brown and gold sign still mostly intact, but with one small change. Underneath it hangs a banner advertising “Your Northwest Pima County Service Center Coming Soon.” But that service center has been “coming soon” for years, so we poked around to see what’s going on and if it’s on schedule. The short answer is kind of, but first, a little history. The Pima County Supervisors voted to purchase the property for $2.85 million in May 2018, with the plan of turning the bowling alley into county offices. (Tucson Agenda)

(August 23, 2023) Budget back-and-forth: Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told the board of supervisors during Monday’s meeting that they underfunded his department by nearly $5 million for the fiscal year that just began, KOLD’s Bud Foster reports. Nanos’ comments come after months of budget talks between the sheriff and supervisors. Nanos said the shortfall comes as a result of the county refusing to approve $2.8 million in inflation costs for next year and reducing the budget by $2.1 million because of the department’s 180 vacancies.

(August 31, 2023) Funding for overdose prevention: Pima County has been awarded a $2.5 million grant for efforts to prevent opioid and fentanyl overdose deaths, Jim Nintzel reports for the Tucson Sentinel. Accidental or undetermined opioid overdose deaths have increased by more than 50% since 2019, with about 450 deaths last year, a Pima County Health Department report shows. Fentanyl has been an increasing factor in the deaths, growing from being involved in less than 30% of accidental overdoses in 2019 to more than 60% in 2022.

(August 31, 2023) County passes its credit check: Pima County has received a good credit rating, County Administrator Jan Lesher wrote in a memo to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. The two firms that provided the ratings spoke highly of the county’s fiscal management and local economy, saying it has a “healthy financial profile… coupled with a stable operating budget supported by diverse revenue streams.” (Tucson Agenda)

(October 30, 2023) Seeking solutions: Pima County has received a $12.5 million grant from the CDC to combat the opioid epidemic, and another $48.5 million from a settlement agreement with opioid distributors is on its way. But local experts say that this isn’t a problem we can buy our way out of, the *Arizona Daily Star’*s Nicole Ludden reports. There have been 222 fatal overdoses involving opioids so far this year, but with fewer opioid users opting to receive treatment over going to jail, along with pressure from the community, officials are struggling to find new ways to address the problem.

(January 24) Expanding early education: More than 1,350 children from low-income homes were able to attend preschool last year, thanks to scholarships through the Pima Early Education Program, the Arizona Republic’s Sarah Lapidus writes. The county has also collaborated with school districts to open 17 new preschool classes funded by scholarships. Supervisors allocated $30 million in federal pandemic funding to pay for three years of the program. Now in its third year, the program will be paid for through a secondary property tax that funds the Library District at the start of year four.

(February 5) The county supervisors are set to approve $100,000 for the legal defense of the sheriff’s department and the deputies who fatally shot Bradley Lewis, 19, in 2021. The Lewis family filed a lawsuit claiming deputies used excessive force. Deputies said they mistook Lewis’ key fob for a gun and opened fire after Lewis charged them, but the family says the shooting could not have unfolded as deputies said. The sheriff’s department didn’t have body-worn cameras at the time, so there is no video evidence. The county has now set aside $350,000 for legal representation in the lawsuit.

(April 1) The county was set to get $48 million in a nationwide legal settlement with pharmaceutical companies to help cover the cost of the opioid epidemic. Now Supervisor Rex Scott wants to know what the county is doing with that money.

“Very little of the settlement proceeds have been budgeted for and expended. The Board needs an update on the reasons for the delay in making effective use of these funds. We have not had any update on the plans for opioid settlement funds for many months and yet there are many significant concerns that could be targeted and alleviated by their prudent use” Scott wrote in a memo. (Tucson Agenda)

(March 15) Pima County officials are getting ready to apply for $200 million to fund dozens of big environmental projects that are sorely needed, but beyond the reach of the county's tight finances. The money will come from $4.6 billion in grants the Inflation Reduction Act set aside for local, state and tribal governments. County officials, as part of a regional partnership, would use money from the Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Pollution Reduction Grants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, especially in low-income and disadvantaged communities that bear the brunt of excessive heat, lack of shade and flooding. (Tucson Agenda)

(April 1) A budget battle is brewing between the county supervisors and the Pima County Attorney’s Office. County Attorney Laura Conover wants the supervisors to return $2.4 million to her office’s budget that the supervisors cut last year. In a memo to the supervisors ahead of their meeting tomorrow, Conover said her office has “significant concerns related to the management of its budgetary authority from entities outside of its control.” Her office has numerous vacant positions, which she said at the March 19 supervisors’ meeting is due in part to the lag between offering jobs to law school students in February and those graduates getting their law licenses in November. Conover said she’s concerned about offering jobs to people without knowing whether her office will get the $2.4 million back in the upcoming budget. (Tucson Agenda)

(April 10) Amid a budget crunch, the county supervisors are debating whether to raise property taxes. They’re still a good stretch away from deciding, but Supervisors Matt Heinz and Sylvia Lee urged the rest of the Board of Supervisors to keep a tax hike on the table as they deal with state legislators shifting costs to counties. If just one other supervisor gets on board with a tax hike, that would make a majority. And two other supervisors didn’t exactly say it was a nonstarter. (Tucson Agenda)

(April 22) No vacancy: Pima County Supervisors approved a policy last week that will place deadlines on how long a position can remain vacant before it’s removed from the budget, the Arizona Daily Star’s Charles Borla writes. The policy, which goes into effect at the start of the next fiscal year, could result in the loss of hundreds of jobs and cut nearly $8 million from payrolls. There are 7,400 jobs across all the county’s departments. As of Tuesday, nearly 14% of all positions are unfilled.

(August 1, 2023) Bring on the bucks: Nearly every Pima County employee will receive a raise as a result of a year-long study that found the county inadequately classifies and pays its workers, according to the Arizona Daily Star’s Nicole Ludden. Supervisors voted unanimously last Tuesday to spend $9.5 million to reorganize employees into new salary grades and job classifications. The outside firm, which the city paid about $380,000 to conduct the study, found that about one-third of county employees earn less than those in similar positions throughout the state. (Tucson Agenda)

(May 4) The idea of raising property taxes is still hanging on at the Pima County Board of Supervisors. Supervisor Matt Heinz urged the rest of the board to consider it last month, alongside Supervisor Sylvia Lee. Now he’s asking Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher to explain exactly how much a 5.61-cent raise in the tax rate would cost the average homeowner. He also wants to talk about the drop in the tax rate in recent years, as well as the financial situation the county would be in if they had raised property taxes in fiscal 2023, as a board policy says they should have done. In a separate agenda item, Heinz wants to establish a Pima County Housing Trust Fund for affordable housing and pointed to property taxes as one way to fund it. He said it would use $10 million annually and be funded by existing property taxes, a new secondary property tax, document recording fees, impact fees, or a sales tax, among other options. (Tucson Agenda)

(May 16) Not this one: As Pima County officials deal with the loss of pandemic-era federal funds, they’re looking at making funding cuts to balance the books. JobPath, one of the programs that may see a big chunk of its budget disappear, deserves to stick around, Tucson Sentinel columnist Blake Morlock writes. The program helps people who weren’t born on third base find a job. They get trained for jobs the Tucson economy needs and nearly all of them graduate the program.

(May 20) How much does it cost to keep a city and a county running? If you live in Tucson and Pima County, it comes to $4.1 billion in taxpayer dollars. Tomorrow morning, the Pima County Board of Supervisors is going to vote on a $1.7 billion tentative budget. Later in the day, the Tucson City Council is going to vote on a $2.4 billion tentative budget of its own, as we wrote about in Friday’s newsletter. (Tucson Agenda)

(May 30) Big bucks in play: The Arizona Luminaria’s John Washington breaks down Pima County’s proposed budget in advance of its June 18 vote on the final version. The county plans to increase spending for the sheriff’s department and road repairs, as part of the $1.7 billion tentative budget for Fiscal Year 2024-25, which represents a nearly 2% reduction from the previous year. The tentative budget passed 3-2, with supervisors Steve Christy and Matt Heinz voting “no.”