Pima County spins bond survey results

In August, the crack public relations staff for Pima County Manager Chuck Huckelberry released their findings of the County’s bond survey. Soon thereafter, Huckelberry warned the Pima County Bond Advisory Committee not to take the results of the survey too seriously, pointing out a number of flaws.

As it turns out, while job growth remained the top priority for Pima County residents, and transportation is number two on the priority list, there maybe a reason why Huckelberry wanted the public not to take the survey too seriously; the public’s comments do not support Huckelberry’s plan.

According to Pima County, “Transportation investment is at the heart of Pima County’s economic development plan, published last year. One of the major components is the proposed Sonoran Corridor, providing a shortcut to connect I-10 and I-19 and envisioning a 2,500-acre research and business park to enhance technology, aerospace and defense jobs.”

There is just one problem; people want the investment in transportation to be spent on the County’s crumbling roads… not new ones that suit certain land developers friendly to Huckelberry.

According to Joe Ferguson, writing for the Arizona Daily Star, “Fix the darn roads” was “the message residents delivered more than 500 times when answering an online survey of where they’d like to see county bonds spent.”

According to Ferguson, “documents released by Pima County show asphalt got a total of 560 comments in the recently-completed county survey, compared with only 335 supporting more funding for the Pima County Animal Care Center, 179 supporting acquiring more open space and 319 comments favoring keeping the money in the bank.”

Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller told constituents, “So the story I heard was much different than this. Thank you Joe Fergusen for getting the actual survey and summarizing the comments. People want their roads fixed first. Stop spending and fix what we already have. We have enough debt already in Pima County! $1.2 billion, including the sewer bonds. Enough is enough!”

Miller noted that “72 % of the roads in District 1 are in failed/poor condition. The rest of the county is 62% failed/poor condition. The number 1 response on this survey and I hear it every day…Fix the roads! Number 2….Stop Spending our money!”

Huckelberry is now changing his tune, on Monday the crack public relations staff sent out a release notifying the public that the “financial picture isn’t right for a bond election in 2014, according to an analysis by Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry.”

Huckelberry now says that the Bond Committee consider a general obligation bond for road repair, which will require additional time for evaluation. He may ask for $50 million, divvied up for jurisdictions based on assessed valuation, on condition of a funding match from each jurisdiction, to equal $100 million. “While this level of funding will not resolve the entire backlog of highway maintenance and repairs necessary in our communities, it will demonstrate our priority to make meaningful and timely repairs and improve maintenance of the local highway system,” Huckelberry said.

While Huckelberry claimed that the “corridor was the sixth highest vote getter in the job growth category, the survey read:

If Pima County were to hold another bond election, please indicate how important you feel it would be to fund each of the following project types: (Extremely important, Very important, Somewhat important, Not very important, Not at all important)

•Historic, Cultural and Natural Area Conservation

• Parks and Recreational Facilities

• Public Health Facilities

• Libraries and Community Facilities

• Neighborhood Reinvestment and Affordable Housing

• Flood Control Improvements

• Job Growth, Education and Workforce Training Facilities

• Transportation Improvements

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