Last week, Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller revealed the fact that members of the Board of Supervisors have been using their department budget funds to make contributions to various county entities and outside organizations. A review of Supervisor Ray Carroll’s spending revealed that rather than return money to the County’s General Fund, Carroll “donated” the cost of a Tuff Shed to the Pima Animal Care Center.
While that “donation” raised questions about the supervisors’ practices, it raised the ire of taxpayers. Those taxpayers were alerted to the fact that they were not thanked for funding Carroll’s “donation” after a picture of PACC staff thanking Carroll for his “generosity” with taxpayer money was circulated on social media.
Last week, the revelations about the spending habits of Supervisor Richard Elias sparked outrage. In one instance, Supervisor Richard Elias allocated $7499 to Chicanos por la Causa within two months and a total of over $13,000 in less than 2 years. According to campaign finance reports, Chicanos por la Causa Executives have also made donations to the District 5 Supervisor’s re-election campaigns.
District 1 Supervisor Ally Miller stated, “Whether or not this is legal will be determined by the Attorney General and/or Auditor General’s office but at a minimum, this practice of allocating tax payer funds from County Supervisor budgets to various organizations gives the appearance of being able to influence the vote.”
Today, taxpayer are expected to express their outrage to the Board of Supervisors who will discuss and vote on Miller’s agenda item at 9:00 a.m. Meetings are held on the 1st floor of the County Administration building located at 130 W. Congress in downtown Tucson.