TUCSON – On Tuesday, the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to reject Operation Stonegarden funding from FY 2018 once again. The vote came after Supervisor Steve Christy abruptly refused to accept friendly amendments offered by Bronson.
For over 16 years, the supervisors accepted the federal grant, which has provided millions of federal dollars to the Pima County Sheriff’s Office related to border security. H
Tuesday’s vote came at the request of Sheriff Mark Napier, who asked the Board to reconsider their previous vote to reject the 2018 grant.
In response to the issues that have been raised in previous discussions of the issue, and those raised on Tuesday, Bronson crafted and offered “friendly amendments” to ensure easy passage. All three of her amendments were those that had been deemed vital in previous discussions by all supervisors:
1) The 2018 grant must end on June 30, 2020.
2) A commitment to support future legislation that would improve the terms of federal grants so that the full cost of programs (pension etc.) were covered by the grants.
3) Going forward, the County must recoup the maximum legal indirect costs of federal grants.
After he guaranteed that the item would fail, Christy called the vote a “travesty to public safety.”
Miller issued a statement after the meeting: “I am not sure why Supervisor Christy did not accept Supervisor Bronson’s friendly amendments. I would have accepted them.”