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    • Pima voters to vote on transportation tax extension in 2025
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    Pima voters to vote on transportation tax extension in 2025

    Umito Posted on

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    After five years of discussion, Pima County voters will vote on the future of transportation this November.

    In 2025, voters will be asked to approve a 20-year extension of a half-cent tax for the Regional Transportation Authority’s RTA Next plan, a $2.46 billion program for road upgrades that would come into force in April 2026 if approved.

    This comes after the RTA board — made up of Pima County mayors, tribal leaders and transportation officials — voted Sept. 26 to put the plan before voters in the November election. At the meeting, the board also voted to hire an outside company to conduct outreach to hard-to-reach communities and demographics.

    RTA Next follows the previous 20-year tax passed by voters in 2006, which injected $2.1 billion into the RTA plan expiring in 2026.

    The vote to implement the plan was controversial.

    City and municipal leaders in the region still disagree on where the funds should go. — Marana Mayor Ed Honea and Oro Valley Mayor Joe Winfield voted against moving forward with the plan. Officials from Tucson, Sahuarita, South Tucson, Pima County and the Arizona Department of Transportation voted in favor of the proposal, with the central issue being the Tucson Bus Rapid Transit project.

    Despite the disagreement, Arizona State Transportation Board member Ted Maxwell said now is the time to raise awareness.

    “This is as close as we can get, otherwise we’re going to be talking about this for the next two years and we’re not going to get there,” Maxwell said, reiterating that it took six years to develop the RTA Next plan. .

    Maxwell emphasized the need for regional transportation funding for road expansion and improvements as people continue to move into the region, particularly in communities like Vail and Marana continues to grow.

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    How would the RTA Next plan spend $2.46 billion?

    The new plan calls for more than 40 projects across the county for road construction, safety improvements and wildlife connections, nearly half of which are located in Tucson.

    Tucson’s projects include modernizing and widening roads, improving pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and increasing public transportation options.

    Marana has several projects, including two overpasses over Interstate 10, near Cortaro Road and Tangerine Road. Oro Valley, Sahuarita, Pascua Yaqui Tribe and South Tucson also have a handful of road improvement projects. Pima County and the Arizona Department of Transportation also have the bulk of the road projects.

    Contingency or public transport? Plan fuels controversial discussions

    When discussing projects to include in the next RTA plan, Tucson emphasized more mass transit. This includes adding $140 million to the city. Bus Rapid Transit Project with $70 million expected to come from the Regional Transportation Authority.

    Other leaders said the funds would be better placed in the contingency reserve, which is used to protect projects against inflation, economic downturn, lack of revenue and other unforeseen expenses.

    “I think we’ve learned lessons from the RTA … that I don’t think are reflected in what we bring to the community in terms of urgency,” said Winfield, the Oro Valley mayor. He added that he believes voters would support increasing funds in the contingency reserve.

    Winfield proposed removing the $70 million in plan funds for the Tucson Bus Rapid Transit project and using that funding for contingencies and wildlife connections.

    Contingency funds became a problem under the old plan when a recession hit the United States in 2009, leading to a decrease in tax revenue. In response, the board used $230 million in regional funds from the Pima Association of Governments to finance RTA projects. It’s unclear whether that strategy could be replicated under the new plan, which would allocate $25.3 million to contingency funds.

    Honea, the mayor of Marana, supported Winfield’s proposal. He said he would prefer the funds go toward contingencies rather than rapid transit to protect the Marana interchange projects and others, a concern he has expressed for months.

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    “I’m looking at a $200 million interchange that I hope is in its first phase because it benefits a lot of people, not only the city and county, but also Marana and Cortaro.,” he said. “We may need some contingency funds and we need those things to move the programs forward.”

    The proposal angered Tucson Mayor Romero, who said bus rapid transit in Winfield was a priority for Tucsonans.

    “As a city, we have repeatedly stated that bus rapid transit is important to us,” she said. “So yeah, I’m going to get angry if that happens to me when I walk into this meeting not expecting it.”

    Romero then wondered what Winfield “had against” bus rapid transit. She also noted that without securing RTA funding for the bus project, she would vote no to move the project forward.

    Tucson, with two-thirds of the county’s voters, plays a key role in passing the plan and remains steadfast in its commitment to maintaining public transportation funding.

    Tucson officials question RTA’s ability to deliver on promises

    The latest transportation plan still has 17 unfinished projects. The cost of completing seven of these pending projects increased, resulting in a deficit of $195 million. Questions remain about how to close this funding gap.

    With most of the unfinished projects located in Tucson, officials fear the city will be forced to figure out how to finance those projects, including completing the work. Grant Road Improvement Project.

    “It’s really the city of Tucson that holds the bag when it comes to how we’re going to do these projects, and it shouldn’t be the city of Tucson and its residents who hold the bag when it comes to how we pay for these projects,” Romero said.

    Contact the journalist at [email protected]. The Republic’s coverage of southern Arizona is funded, in part, by a grant from Report for America. Support Arizona news coverage with a tax-deductible donation to supportjournalism.azcentral.com.

    Umito
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