PIMA COUNTY – On Thursday, during an Emergency Meeting of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, County tenants received a deferral of their rent and other expenses. Supervisors approved the deferral for tenants such as Accelerate Diagnostics ($364,994.50) Bank of America ($10,200.00), World View ($355,000.00), and the University of Arizona in a 4-1 vote.
Supervisor Ally Miller was the lone no vote.
At nearly the same time, the U.S. Department of Education announced that colleges and universities in Arizona will get hundreds of millions of dollars in stimulus monies. The University of Arizona is slated to receive $30,953,447 overall, of which $15,476,724 must go to students.
Miller questioned the fairness of providing deferrals to some of the County’s deep-pocketed tenants while residents are struggling to pay their rent and property taxes with no relief in immediate sight. “Across Pima County, residents are doing their part to win the war against COVID-19. They are making tremendous sacrifices to protect the most vulnerable people in our community. In many cases, they have been compelled to shutter their businesses for which they have worked tirelessly. While Pima County government has seen fit to force their closures, other than a webpage and sparse posts on social media inviting the cash-strapped residents to “order take-out,” little has been done on the County level to mitigate their damages,” said Miller in a press release.
“Our small business community and residents must still pay their property taxes without delay or deferment and hope their taxpayer funded stimulus checks come in time to feed their families and avoid additional lay-offs,” stated Miller.
“However, not all companies in the private sector are created equal in Pima County. For a select group of businesses – those that were lucky enough to sign sweetheart leases with Pima County – rental payments, utilities, and maintenance costs have been deferred,” continued Miller. “So while mom-and-pop restaurants scramble or fail to make payments for now idle businesses, others like Bank of America, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Southern New Hampshire University, University of Arizona, World View Enterprises, the Arizona Department of Economic Security, the UA College of Medicine, Banner Health (UA), and Accelerate Diagnostics enjoy deferred lease payments due to a 4-1 vote by the Board of Supervisors today.”
“The lack of inequitable treatment did not stop there,” explained Miller. “In a 4-1 vote by the Board of Supervisors, some County employees will receive a $2 an hour bonus for performing their duties. At this time, the vast majority of grocery and drug store employees are performing their duty to keep the supply chain in working order under incredible duress with little or no increase in wages. Why should public employees, who generally have generous benefit plans compared to private sector employees, receive more money for doing the duties for which they were hired?”
Miller questioned how the pay policy could be equitable. “Sheriff Napier claimed that the increase in was due to the fact that members of his staff have never had to potentially take home the hazards (COVID-19 virus) they face. That may be true, but the same could be said for employees at Safeway, Walmart, and Walgreens.”
Miller concluded, “We are all living in perilous times that require sacrifice. All of the men and women on the front lines of this fight – from store clerks to County clerks – should be rewarded with the safest workplace conditions possible with guaranteed adequate Personal Protection Equipment and the nation’s gratitude. Most of them want nothing more.”
[View County Administrator Huckelberry’s Cost Delay memo]
None of the other supervisors explained their votes on either item. However, not everyone was silent. Christy’s Republican Primary opponent John Backer posted his concerns on Facebook: