Not in the foreseeable future (i.e. until we emerge from the recession). In order to arrive at a balanced budget, on time, we had to make some tough calls. Ultimately, we cut $3 in spending for every $1 in new revenues needed to arrive at a balanced 2010 budget.
What internal cost cutting measures would you direct the City Manager to take to reduce spending?
|
|
What plan or plans do you have to help stimulate the economy?
I will continue to focus on building our economy from the ground up, protecting jobs, championing local job training, investing in education and healthcare, and supporting small businesses through Local First Arizona and vibrant business alliances like the new Gateway Business Alliance. I have demonstrated my ability to bring business and neighborhood leaders together to find common cause and move forward on economic development projects cooperatively.
What are you plans to address downtown development?
In 2008, I led the Mayor and Council in the creation of the Independent Audit Commission, to provide independent oversight of the City’s finances. Earlier this year, I successfully pushed for a detailed, independent audit of Rio Nuevo finances, from inception to the current fiscal year, in order to clearly bring to light areas that require attention in Rio Nuevo’s planning and procurement processes.
Gone are the days when key development deals were made in backrooms without the full oversight and consent of Mayor and Council. I am pleased to say that since I joined the Council, we have refocused downtown redevelopment – away from the past council’s rainbow bridges and downtown aquariums, toward key infrastructure and revenue generating projects like the new modern streetcar and the new convention center/hotel. We have pushed through more than a dozen infrastructure projects with more in the works. If we had not moved these projects along, Tucson would have lost hundreds of millions of development dollars to Phoenix.
Do you support the City creating a new Professional Services tax?
I have not received any such proposal for consideration.
Do you support the City reintroducing the renter’s tax?
The former City Manager brought the landlord-privilege tax to the table as one option to look at to help close the remaining budget deficit after tens of millions in costs were cut. Ultimately, the citizens spoke out against it and Mayor and Council identified other options for balancing our budget and adopting it on time. The current City Manager is developing proposals for consideration for the 2011 budget.
Do you support the Public Safety First Initiative? If so, how will you pay for it and are tax increases part of your proposal?
I agree 100% with the goals of this initiative. That is why I voted for the Financial Sustainability Plan in 2006 (www.tucsonaz.gov/fs), to increase police staffing levels and decrease firefighter response times in Tucson, and to pay for it responsibly with a dedicated percentage of all increases in city revenues over ten years. The City has met our initial police and fire increased funding goals as laid out in the Sustainability Plan, and we are still 110% committed to implementing the Plan in its entirety.
As I’ve stated before, my key concern with this ballot initiative is the fact that it is an unfunded mandate that we know will increase costs to the city more than $150 million over the next five years, at a time when we are still in a recession and facing massive revenue shortfalls due to the economy. According to the County Administrator, Prop 200 would increase criminal justice related costs to the County as well, by more than $100 million over the next five years, and lead to immediate property tax increases.
I want the voters to know that there are two likely outcomes for the city if this 5-year unfunded mandate passes: (a) it will lead to drastic cuts in other critical areas covered by the General Fund, like economic development, parks and recreation, and road maintenance, or (b) it will lead to higher taxes and fees. Ultimately, I trust the voters to make good decisions when equipped with full information.
Comments
bob wrote on Oct 29, 2009 6:41 PM:
Here is a quote from the “Handbook of Public Finance”:
“…many governments prepare their CAFR pursuant to the requirements of the GFOA Certificate of Excellence… This program constitutes current best practices… Rating agencies consider audited financial statements and attainment of the Certificate to be indicators of good management. As a result, by preparing a CAFR a government may attain a higher credit rating or maintain its existing credit rating.”
Rio Nuevo has already borrowed about $100 million and if the hotel is built this would require borrowing about another $200 million. If the audit can help lower the interest rate by only 0.10%, this means taxpayers will save $300,000/year in interest – way more than the cost of an audit.
The City will tell you “we already do an audit that includes Rio Nuevo”. Yup, that is true. Many financial advisors will recommend a separate CAFR for a component unit if that unit is borrowing lots of money. Rating agencies like these audits of the separate unit and could lead to a better credit rating. There are lots of moving pieces within Rio Nuevo and bond holders like to see the revenue, expenses and residual income that is available to pay debt service – this could result in paying a lower rate of interest.
books.google.com/books?id=3e_QMFY5GPkC&pg=PA535&lpg=PA535&dq=cafr+credit+rating&source=bl&ots=KmdGed_WLu&sig=NzQF-7h-djlPFhs05yYCkjCmk58&hl=en&ei=1I_QSr3jOIKosgPHr_TvCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBEQ6AEwAw "