President Robbins Meets with City and Pima County Leaders

Government and Community Relations recently helped coordinate a lunch meeting between President Robbins, Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry, Tucson City Manager Mike Ortega, along with other UA, County, and City leaders.

Some of the current projects discussed at the meeting included the progress of the UA Gem and Mineral Museum opening in the Historic Courthouse downtown, the new downtown UA incubator Forge at Roy Place, the Bridges Tech Park, and ongoing partnerships at the Banner-University Medical Center South. Also discussed was how we can continue to work together to most effectively address our community’s workforce development needs.   

FY20 Pima County Budget

In related news, on July 2 the Pima County Board of Supervisors adopted their FY2020 budget.  The budget includes additional money for road repair, new libraries, and starting salaries for sheriff’s deputies. The Board found budget savings to allow funding of some one-time expenditures and to cut the primary property tax rate by 7 cents, and as a result, most county property taxpayers will see a smaller increase in their county tax bill next year despite increased property valuations.

The combined county budget for the fiscal year 2020 is $1.31 billion, funded by a combined county property tax rate of $5.5584 per $100 of net assessed value, which is five cents less than the current fiscal year. As part of the budget adoption, the Board required that all general fund county departments reduce their personnel budgets by 1 percent so that they end the fiscal year with a budget surplus, which may be used to offset increases in property valuations or to jumpstart a Pay-As-You-Go capital financing program.