Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller’s Question and Answer Session on the County Administrator’s Recommended Fiscal Year 2013/2014 Budget left many residents feeling grateful and disappointed. The meeting was open to the public, with about 100 in attendance, but not open to discussion.
Miller’s meeting featured County Administrator, Chuck Huckelberry. It came as a result of her fellow supervisors’ refusal to support budget study sessions. None of her fellow supervisors participated in the meeting; however Ray Carroll did duck in during the break to shake very few friendly hands.
At a recent meeting Carroll bragged that the County hadn’t had budget study sessions since he took office in 1997.
Despite the fact that the event seemed highly scripted by Huckelberry and his large public relations staff, one attendee summed up the overall sentiment of the large crowd, “There were a lot of numbers being thrown around so it was not a particularly entertaining event and in fact pretty boring most of the time. Everyone was just happy to have the opportunity to hear the inside thinking on the budget from “the man himself.”
A Constituent Panel asked the questions from the public. Those questions had to be received by May 15, so the answers the public received were presented in a packet which provided the script for Huckelberry. He did not stray from the carefully crafted script which shed the most favorable light on some of the County’s most disastrous decisions including the Kino Stadium debacle.
“There were suggestions for improvement made to Ally for next time,” said one County resident. “So I don’t think anyone thought it a waste of time.”
Another said, “even if we’re being lied to, at least now we can call him on the record and that in itself is a major deal, reading the budget numbers on line are impossible to understand, if you can find them and that is a big if.”
According to attendees, no one was thinking they were getting complete answers. The comments in the room were skeptical for the most part.
County residents said they were surprised by redundancy in services. The County employs 6 graphic designers in communications (PR) department, as well as a number in the County’s own print shop. Much of the County’s billing is cross departmental. As a result, the budget which is intentionally confusing is more so due to the number of buckets from which to pull and place funds.
“But Chuck seems to know where all the buckets are. If he were to leave tomorrow no one could step in to run the county, I believe,” said one small business owner. “Everything goes through him and he knew details of the budget that were astounding. Rarely did he defer questions to the budget people in back. When he did, they used acronyms only county employees could know. I have no idea of half of what they said.”
When questioned about the total County indebtedness, Huckelberry only responded that people could refer to Appendix 4 in the packet Huckelberry and his staff prepared. Unfortunately, Appendix 4 does not give a total for indebtedness.
The lightest moment was when Huckelberry was asked about Joe Snell’s membership on the newly formed Telluride Chamber of Commerce. To be clear; Telluride, Colorado.
Snell, who heads up the controversial County funded TREO, (Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities organization), earns over $300,000 for what is supposed to be a full-time job. Huckelberry appeared to be surprised by the question and said he didn’t know about Snell’s economic development effort for another community.
Snell’s activity was first reported by popular radio host James T. Harris, on 104.1FM, the day before the questions were due from the public. The subject captured the public’s interest, and resulted in the question to Huckelberry.
“Everyone understood the conflict of interest with TREO and Snell being on the chamber in Colorado, this was the biggest thing being discussed during the break. Why didn’t Chuck know? He knows everything else,” said one slightly amused resident. “Everyone else reports to Chuck including all the communication staff. Everything goes through Chuck. Why not this? Especially with the big salary Snell is being paid. Mr “I have all the answers” didn’t know his director of Regional Economic Development for Tucson is also promoting Telluride businesses. Isn’t that what Chamber Board members are suppose to do?”
Huckelberry blamed the subsidy for the failed Stadium District on “the failure of major-league baseball to meet their contract obligations;” however, it was the County’s political decision years ago to build Kino stadium in an area that local businesses were not willing to occupy. The purchase was made to enrich cronies and not meet the needs of the baseball teams. As a result, those teams left for communities that were willing to recognize their business interests rather than the interests of a few political powerhouses with undesirable land to sell.
Huckelberry tried to salvage the expensive blunder by saying that while it is essentially broke, the “community does receive substantial park and recreational benefits since thousands of residents and their children enjoyed use of the baseball and park facilities.”
Still, Huckelberry says the “best bet” is to repurpose the stadium for soccer games. Huckleberry said he is “not holding his breath for Stadium District subsidy repayment.” He advised the public that the County “will likely continue to subsidize the stadium district for an additional 3 to 4 years until the debt service associated with the initial stadium construction has been retired they are reviewing every possibility for alternative uses for the stadium and its facilities.”
Miller asked for the study sessions due to the size and scope of the County Administrator’s Recommended Budget for Fiscal Year 2013/2014, which is in excess of $1.2 billion dollars.
At the time of her initial proposal, Miller said she was “requesting two 4-hour study sessions. These study sessions will allow Department Directors to answer any questions and will further assist the Supervisors in developing a clear understanding of where our tax dollars are going.
At the end of Friday’s session, the public had more questions than answers. One attendee said at the conclusion, “I am grateful to Supervisor Miller, and will be more grateful if she understands that most of what we heard today was an introduction to How to Scam with Three Card Monty 101.”
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