When I taught journalism at the University of Arizona between 1967 and 1994, I urged my students to take state and local government courses so they could cover those beats.

That’s still good advice, but political science classes won’t explain how our state, county and city politicians are behaving this year.

Arizona and its counties and cities have been hit by a sagging economy.

Sales tax collections are down, and every level of government either has a shortfall now or will have one soon.

Homeowners, already upset about rising property taxes, will get their highest bills in history just before this fall’s elections. Those bills will be based on values set last year, before home prices slumped.

The full cash value notices county assessors mailed out in February may be about the same or even a little lower than last year, but they will apply to the 2009 tax bills, not this year’s.

Meanwhile, the cost of fuel, utilities, groceries, health care and just about everything else is rising. More people are moving here, and governments face increasing demands for public safety, school, roads and other services.

Dedicated but angry taxpayers are circulating petitions to place three measures on the November ballot that would slash tax collections.

Professors once cited situations like this as classic examples of when governments should cut expenses and get back to basics. But if they said that today in Arizona, they would be dead wrong.

Some legislators are hung up on letting college teachers tote guns to class and upset because their colleagues won’t allow K-12 teachers to do the same. Others want to cut various taxes, even though that would increase deficits.

Senate President Tim Bee, R-Tucson, wants a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, which already is prohibited by state law.

Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano resisted a hiring freeze on state employees until legislators threatened to do it for her.

Ignoring the economy, Pima County officials hired more employees for development services and other departments.

As the county announced it would close its only major landfill on the northwest side because it’s almost full, County Bond Advisory Committee members revived plans for $700 million or more in new bonds that would either raise property taxes or at least keep them from going down when old bonds are retired.

Environmentalists want $285 million of those bonds to buy more vacant land, not for a landfill, but so the county can keep other people from using it. Yet the county can’t protect the thousands of acres it now owns.

The City of Tucson apparently thought it might avoid a shortfall by becoming the area’s leader in speed traps and parking tickets. But even a 70 percent increase in tickets hasn’t solved its money problems.

However, those tickets - including hundreds written for exhibitors and customers at this year’s gem and mineral shows - could keep some of those visitors away next year.

We could lose some other attractions. Spring training is in danger, but Pima County’s efforts to form a regional sports and tourism authority to finance professional and amateur sports facilities look promising.

Sponsors of Tucson’s annual Mariachi Festival got little help when they warned last month that another city might seize their event unless the mayor and council provide free or reduced rent for it at the Convention Center.

Yet with little discussion, the council voted to spend from $220,000 to $360,000 a year to extend domestic partner benefits for unmarried heterosexual couples if one is a city employee. Partners of employees in long-term same-sex relationships have been covered since 1997.

I think expanding health coverage to Tucsonans is good. It reduces unfunded expenses when uninsured sick or injured people show up at hospitals for needed care.

But is this really the best time to do it?

Contact Steve Emerine or e-mail comments for publication to editor@azbiz.com. Emerine, a Tucson resident since 1960, has run Steve Emerine Strategic Public Relations since 1994. He is a former local newspaper reporter, editor and columnist and served as Pima County Assessor from 1973 to 1980. He is a regular Monday guest on the John C. Scott radio talk show, which airs from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. weekdays on The Voice KVOI 690-AM. This column appears weekly in Inside Tucson Business.