Joe Ferguson

3 days ago | tucsonagenda.substack.com | Joe Ferguson |Curt Prendergast

You are not going to like it, but the biggest culprit behind why your property taxes are probably going up isn’t Pima County. It’s the state Legislature, where shifting costs from the state to the county will take an estimated $126 million chunk out of the county’s $1.76 billion budget. And let’s not forget the giant question mark the county should have in place for federal funding that has been awarded, but is stuck in legal limbo under the Trump administration.

4 days ago | tucsonagenda.substack.com | Joe Ferguson |Curt Prendergast

There will be winners and losers as the Tucson City Council pencils out a $2.4 billion budget. The budget discussion starts next week — in a month, the ink will be dry on this budget. We outlined the various pressures on the budget in yesterday's edition. The $2.4 billion proposed budget is the same size as this year’s budget — but revenues are dwindling and costs are going up everywhere. Something has to give and the Council members have some choices to make.

5 days ago | tucsonagenda.substack.com | Joe Ferguson |Curt Prendergast

It would be hard to put your finger on when the City of Tucson’s budget for next year veered into crisis mode. Maybe it was when pandemic funding dried up, President Donald Trump signed executive orders jeopardizing federal funding, the state released anemic economic forecasts or when voters rejected Proposition 414 in March. All those issues are coming to a head as Tucson City Council members prepare to make their final budget tweaks, which could come as early as their May 20 meeting.

1 week ago | tucsonagenda.substack.com | Joe Ferguson |Curt Prendergast

An anticipated fight between the Tucson City Council and Pima County Board of Supervisors over a new water rate — which will charge county residents more — might not happen. A slim majority of the supervisors rejected a resolution on Tuesday and derailed what was likely a precursor to another lawsuit against the city.

1 week ago | tucsonagenda.substack.com | Joe Ferguson |Curt Prendergast

Don’t blame the messenger, but the Pima County Board of Supervisors has an absurdly long meeting this morning — there are 70 items on the agenda!Here are the three big items that are worth keeping an eye on today. Another fight over water rates. A few weeks ago, the City of Tucson signaled it will again adopt a bifurcated water rate increase — meaning it’ll ask county residents to pay more for water than their neighbors in the city limits.