Ignoring the tremndous tax burden commerical property owners will face, the Tucson Association of REALTORS® has endorsed all seven Pima County bond propositions on the November 3 ballot.
If approved by voters, the seven propositions would spend $815 million on 99 projects across Pima County. While County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry has sold the tax increase associated with the bonds as a matter of small change – or the cost of a latte for homeowners – for some commerical property owners the increase in taxes could amount to the cost of a down payment on a Starbucks franchise.
Still, with Steve Huffman as the Government Affairs Director with the Tucson Association of REALTORS® and close friend of Pima County Supervisor Ramon Valadez, the decision to endorse the bonds was expected. Also expected is a Huffman run against District 1 incumbent Ally Miller in the upcoming election. Miller, the watchdog of the Pima County Board of Supervisors has been the bain of the County cronies’ existence since taking office over three years ago.
“As REALTORS®, we are in a unique position to carefully consider the value of the 99 projects in the proposed bond program and the financial impact of the proposed spending on taxpayers in Pima County. The decision to support all seven questions was made by a committee of some of our most active and experienced members in our association,” said Steve Huffman, TAR Government Affairs Director in a press release.
“We feel strongly that REALTOR® leadership on these propositions is critical,” he added presumaby with a straight face. “While there was not consensus on every individual line item in the seven questions, the bond package in total merits the support of our Association.”