💧 Water Justice Denied: Differential Rates for Unincorporated Areas Approved Despite Chair Scott's Passionate Opposition | Pima BOS, May 6th, 2025
Board passes climate action plan 4-1 despite Christy opposition as insurance companies begin abandoning wildfire-prone areas
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾
🏛️ The Pima County Board of Supervisors, which is 5️⃣ people who make important decisions for our community, had a big meeting about serious problems. They talked about how there aren't enough 🏠 affordable places for people to live, so a plan was suggested to raise 💰 by adding just $7️⃣ to property taxes each year. They also discussed how the county is taking money that was supposed to be for 📚 libraries and using it for 🧒🏫 preschool programs instead.
The meeting showed that 4️⃣ of the supervisors usually agree with each other about helping people who don't have much 💸, but one supervisor named Steve Christy often votes against these ideas. They also talked about how our area is getting very 🌵 dry and at risk for 🔥 wildfires because the 🌍 climate is changing. Their decisions affect whether people have 🏡 homes, can afford 🧒🏫 preschool, have good 📚 libraries, and stay safe from 🔥 fires and 🌡️ extreme heat.
🗝️ Takeaways
🏠 Pima County faces an affordable housing crisis requiring 116,000 new units by 2045, with Supervisor Heinz proposing a "Three Cents" property tax solution that would generate $207 million over ten years while costing average homeowners just $7.10 annually
📚 The Board approved diverting $30 million from Library District reserves to fund PEEPS preschool programs ($7,143 per child annually) despite County Administrator Lesher's own memo acknowledging this funding approach is unsustainable long-term
🔥 Southern Arizona faces "extreme D3 drought" conditions with unprecedented wildfire risks exacerbated by invasive species creating "grassification" of the Sonoran Desert, while insurance companies begin abandoning homeowners in vulnerable areas
💧 The progressive Board majority rejected a resolution opposing Tucson Water's differential rate structure for unincorporated customers, revealing tensions between sustainability pricing and ensuring universal access to essential services
👩⚖️ David Peter Miller was appointed Justice of the Peace for Precinct 6 in a rare 5-0 vote, with supporters citing his commitment to "fairness, dignity, and real solutions that center people, not punishment" in a system that handles 140,000 cases annually
🗳️ County Recorder Cazares Kelly reported vote centers reduced provisional ballots from 27% to 9%, significantly increasing the number of valid votes counted, particularly in historically disenfranchised communities
🌡️ Heat Awareness Week proclamation highlighted the human toll of climate change: 101 heat-related deaths in Pima County in 2024 alone, disproportionately affecting unhoused people and low-income communities
The People's Business: Inside the Pima County Board of Supervisors Meeting—Where Power, Money, and Community Collide
In the polished chamber of the Pima County Administration Building, the five members of the Board of Supervisors gathered on May 6, 2025, to decide the fate of millions of dollars, dozens of policies, and ultimately, the daily lives of nearly one million residents across our diverse region. From housing justice to environmental protection, from early childhood education to wildfire preparation, the marathon seven-hour session exposed both the promise and limitations of local governance in the face of overlapping crises.
What's striking isn't just what they discussed, but who benefits—and who doesn't—from the decisions made by these five elected officials.
The Board: A Study in Political Contrasts
The five-member Board revealed clear ideological divisions throughout the meeting:
Rex Scott (Chair, District 1): A measured, procedure-focused moderate Democrat representing the northern suburbs and foothills
Dr. Matt Heinz (District 2): A physician and progressive Democrat advocating for expanded social services
Jennifer Allen (Vice Chair, District 3): A progressive focused on sustainability and equity issues
Steve Christy (District 4): The Board's lone Republican and consistent conservative voice
Andrés Cano (District 5): The Board's most outspoken progressive, representing predominantly Latino south side communities
The 4-1 progressive majority was evident throughout the meeting, though internal disagreements occasionally surfaced among the Democrats, particularly on water issues and procedural matters.
Housing Justice: A $207 Million Question
The day's most consequential discussion centered on Supervisor Heinz's bold "Three Cents for Affordable Housing" plan, which would dedicate property tax revenues over ten years to raise approximately $207 million for affordable housing. In a county where housing costs have skyrocketed while wages remain stagnant, this proposal represents a rare attempt to address the structural roots of homelessness and housing insecurity.
"Housing insecurity continues to go up and up and up and up," Supervisor Heinz explained, his voice rising with intensity. "People are paying 50, 60, and 70 percent of their income to keep a roof over their heads. This is not sustainable."
The data presented was sobering:
116,000 new housing units needed by 2045
72,000 affordable units required in the next 20 years
$207 million would address about one-third of that need in the first decade
While corporate developers continue building luxury homes and apartments that sit vacant or serve as investment properties for the wealthy, thousands of working Pima County residents sleep in cars, shelters, or on the streets. This plan represents a concrete step toward housing as a human right rather than a commodity.
Keith Bentley from the Tucson Alliance for Housing Justice testified powerfully about the urgency: "Every six months, I read another article about how the current pace of permitting and construction is nowhere near enough to get us out of the hole we're in." He specifically noted how permits for new home starts in the first quarter had dropped 36% from the previous year.
Supervisor Allen connected housing to broader county challenges, observing: "I put that next to the other costs that we incur by not investing in housing. The costs that we incur for law enforcement, the costs that we incur around the jail, the costs of all of the nonprofit organizations that are building up all of the services."
The three-cent proposal would cost the average homeowner approximately $7.10 in the first year—roughly the price of a fast-food meal—while creating disproportionately greater contributions from the wealthiest property owners, making it one of the most progressive funding mechanisms available to local government.
That's right—for less than the cost of two lattes per year, we could begin addressing our catastrophic housing shortage. Yet watch how the same fiscal conservatives who never question millions spent on jails and policing suddenly discover deep concerns about the taxpayer burden when it comes to housing the vulnerable.
After extensive discussion, the Board voted unanimously to continue the item to their May 20th meeting, signaling a desire to move forward with potentially minor adjustments rather than reject the proposal outright.
Climate Crisis: Wildfire and Heat Threaten Lives
With Southern Arizona experiencing severe drought conditions and rising temperatures, two interconnected climate presentations revealed the growing danger facing our communities.
Marty Voskis delivered a sobering assessment of the region's wildfire vulnerability: "According to data from the National Weather Service, Southern Arizona faces a heightened wildfire risk due to a severe D2 and extreme D3 drought. May through July temperatures are trending at 50 to 70% of abnormal."
The Wildfire Mitigation Plan outlined three strategic pillars:
Prevention and public education
Mitigation and fuel reduction
Emergency response coordination
The presentation highlighted how invasive species are transforming the Sonoran Desert landscape through "grassification," creating unprecedented wildfire risks in areas historically resistant to large-scale burns.
During discussions, a troubling pattern emerged: regulatory conflicts between HOA aesthetic requirements and fire safety needs are putting communities at risk. Several homeowner associations actually prohibit the very mitigation measures recommended by fire officials.
Meanwhile, homeowners face a new threat—insurance companies abandoning Arizona due to climate risks, just as they've done in California. The free market's response to climate change isn't adaptation but abandonment.
Public speaker Corey Stevens warned: "What's happening is the insurance policies are being dropped... It's a huge issue, and you guys need to look into this because it's going to happen here, where the insurance companies are going to back out. If we do not get this under control with fire mitigation, the insurance companies are going to back out."
The Board also approved Resolution 2025-11 to further the county's climate change commitments by adopting a Climate Action Plan aligned with international standards. The plan increases the region's carbon reduction goals to 60% and expands to include adaptation measures for extreme heat, wildfire, flooding, and drought.
The resolution passed 4-1 with Supervisor Christy opposed—a reminder that party-line climate denial remains a reality even as our region burns and bakes.
The Heat Awareness proclamation revealed the deadly stakes: 101 heat-related deaths occurred in Pima County in 2024 alone. That's 101 lives—disproportionately elderly, homeless, and working-class people—lost to a preventable climate disaster.
Justice Court Appointment: A Rare Consensus
In a moment of bipartisan agreement, the Board appointed David Peter Miller as Justice of the Peace for Precinct 6 in a 5-0 vote.
Supervisor Cano nominated Miller, citing his experience as a juvenile prosecutor and commitment to "fairness, dignity, and real solutions that center people, not punishment." Supervisor Allen had emphasized the importance of appointing an attorney to the position, noting the previous judge was a lawyer and that an attorney was someone "who is looked to from the other J.Ps who may not have the legal background."
The Justice Court system processes approximately 140,000 cases annually, making it the judicial forum most likely to interact with ordinary citizens, especially those from marginalized communities.
Miller's stated focus on people rather than punishment represents a potential shift toward restorative justice in a system that disproportionately impacts poor and working-class residents, particularly people of color.
The Democracy Question: Voting Rights and Water Governance
Two procedural items, the Elections Operations Report and the Differential Water Rates resolution, revealed deeper questions about democratic representation in our region.
Elections Director Hargrove presented analysis showing how the county's transition from precinct-based voting to vote centers had both saved money and improved voter access:
Cost savings of $295,000 in the Elections Department
Ballot cost reductions of $653,000 during the 2024 elections
Election pay decreases of $136,000 from previous cycles
More importantly, County Recorder Gabriella Cazares Kelly emphasized the human impact: "By instituting the Vote Center Model... we went from 27 percent of provisional ballots to 9 percent. So going from 27 percent of provisional ballots to 9 means more people's votes counted, that more people were confident in the system."
In an era where voting rights face relentless attacks from the right, Pima County's expansion of voting access through innovation stands as a model for protecting democratic participation.
Meanwhile, Chair Scott's proposed Resolution 2025-10 opposing Tucson Water's differential rate structure for customers in unincorporated areas was defeated in a 3-2 vote, with Supervisors Allen, Cano, and Heinz opposed.
Scott argued passionately against what he viewed as discriminatory pricing: "A third of their rate payers live in the unincorporated county, a third, and they are represented in each one of the five supervisor districts. Most of these folks have been Tucson Water customers for decades."
Supervisor Cano countered, "It is a fact that delivering water to unincorporated areas costs more. Tucson Water's effort to rebalance rates under the guidance of a cost-of-service study and in compliance with court orders is not about exclusion; it's about sustainability."
The defeat signals a major policy shift in regional water governance and underscores the delicate balance between sustainability pricing and universal access to essential services.
In the Southwest, water isn't just a utility—it's the difference between life and death. As climate change intensifies our water crisis, the fundamental question becomes: is water a human right or a market commodity? This vote suggests a move toward the latter.
PEEPS Funding: Robin Hood Politics or Robbing Peter to Pay Paul?
The Board approved 14 contracts worth millions of dollars to continue the controversial Pima Early Education Program (PEEPS), with funding now drawn primarily from Library District reserves—a maneuver that has sparked intense debate about transparency, accountability, and the proper use of taxpayer funds.
These 14 separate agenda items (35-48)—strategically separated rather than bundled together—commit approximately $30 million from library taxes over three years to fund preschool scholarships for low-income children. The cost works out to roughly $7,143 per child annually for approximately 1,400 children across Pima County.
Chair Scott outlined the program's dual goals: "to increase the number of three to five-year-old children from low-income families attending high-quality preschools in Pima County and to increase the number of high-quality preschools in Pima County."
Supervisor Allen emphasized the program's economic importance: "It is astounding how expensive it is. And costs now have made it $12,600 for a child... the ripple effects of providing quality child care, not just for the child or the family but for a community overall, are just profound."
The measures passed 4-1, with Supervisor Christy providing the lone opposition to all 14 program funding items.
What went unmentioned during the Board's discussion was the questionable funding mechanism that transforms library tax dollars into preschool scholarships. According to county documents, the Pima County Free Library District has accumulated approximately $38 million in reserves through responsible fiscal management. Rather than reinvesting these funds in library services, the Board has redirected $10 million annually to fund PEEPS.
County Administrator Jan Lesher's own memos acknowledge the unsustainability of this approach: "The Library District does not have sufficient revenue streams to sustain a $10 million PEEPs program on an annual basis without significant restructuring." By the end of FY 2025/26, only $1.3 million will remain in the PEEPS reserve.
The cruel irony here is that both libraries and preschools serve largely the same communities—working-class families and historically marginalized neighborhoods. This manufactured budget crisis pits essential services against each other while the wealthy elite who benefit from Arizona's regressive tax structure escape scrutiny.
Meanwhile, strategic planning documents for the library system discuss "Strategically Recalibrating Small Branches" and "Reimagining Staffing"—bureaucratic euphemisms that often signal service reductions and potential branch closures. These would disproportionately impact the same communities PEEPS aims to serve.
The Southern Arizona Leadership Council (SALC), a business group led by Major General Ted Maxwell, helped engineer the "creative interpretation" that classified preschool funding as "early childhood literacy" to justify using library taxes for this purpose—all without explicit voter approval for this redirection.
The City of Tucson has proposed cutting its PEEPS contribution entirely, putting even more pressure on the library-funded portion of the program. Mayor Regina Romero has correctly identified the broader fiscal context: "I cannot stress enough how much damage the Doug Ducey flat tax is doing. A flat tax on income really favors corporations and the wealthy in Arizona."
This is the neoliberal playbook in action: Cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy, starve public services of funding, then force them to cannibalize each other while calling it "innovation" or "creative solutions." Meanwhile, the communities who depend most on these services—working families, immigrants, and people of color—bear the brunt of these austerity politics.
Public Voice: Right-Wing Grievance Versus Community Needs
The Call to the Public segment illustrated the county's political polarization. Several speakers delivered scripted right-wing talking points, with one citizen, Lori Moore, blaming progressive policies for various issues: "I hope Pima County residents realize this shortfall will now be paid for by them in the form of higher property taxes."
The irony, of course, is that the "budget shortfall" referenced stems primarily from federal funding disruptions caused by the Trump administration's xenophobic policies targeting immigrants and asylum seekers—not local progressive initiatives.
Environmental perspectives also clashed, with one speaker dismissing climate change concerns while another warned about homeowners losing insurance coverage due to wildfire risks.
Multiple speakers expressed concerns about a proposed development project called Casita Village at La Mariposa, warning that a detention basin connected to the project could create flood and liability risks for the county.
While right-wing culture warriors raged about imaginary threats, everyday residents raised legitimate concerns about development, climate impacts, and community safety. The contrast couldn't be clearer.
Vote Roundup: A Progressive Scorecard
The Road Ahead: Building People Power
As Pima County navigates complex challenges from housing affordability to climate resilience, this meeting demonstrated that progress remains possible but requires sustained community organizing and vigilance.
The County's discussions of wildfire preparation, early childhood education, and homelessness solutions revealed officials struggling to balance immediate needs against long-term sustainability. The continued debate over affordable housing funding suggests a potential breakthrough on May 20th, while differences on water governance and climate policy underscore persistent ideological divides.
For the thousands of Pima County residents who lack affordable housing, who fear losing health insurance, who work multiple jobs to afford childcare, or who live in areas of increasing wildfire risk, these are not abstract policy debates but matters of survival. And while our current Board majority has taken meaningful steps forward on many fronts, transformative change will require building power from below and demanding systemic solutions rather than piecemeal fixes that pit essential services against each other.
The True Cost of Austerity Politics
What's happening in Pima County isn't unique. Across Arizona and throughout the country, we see the same pattern: Tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy create artificial scarcity for public services. Conservative forces then pit worthy programs against each other—libraries versus preschools, housing versus healthcare, fire protection versus road maintenance.
This manufactured scarcity serves powerful interests by:
Distracting us from the true source of underfunding (regressive tax structures)
Forcing progressive advocates to fight each other for crumbs
Creating the false impression that public services are inherently inefficient
Setting the stage for the privatization of essential services
The PEEPS funding controversy exemplifies this dynamic. While we should absolutely support early childhood education, we should question why it must come at the expense of libraries—particularly when both serve many of the same vulnerable communities. The $38 million in library reserves wasn't wasteful government spending; it was responsible fiscal management that has now been repurposed without explicit voter approval.
Similarly, the housing affordability crisis won't be solved through shuffling existing funds; it requires a fundamental rethinking of our housing system, including meaningful rent control, tenant protections, and public housing investments. The Three Cents proposal is a step in the right direction, but it's just a beginning.
Take Action: Be The Change
Here's how you can get involved:
Mark your calendar for May 20th: Attend the next Board meeting in person to support the Three Cents for Affordable Housing proposal while demanding that BOTH libraries AND preschools receive sustainable, transparent funding. Public testimony matters!
Contact your Supervisor: Call or email your representative with your personal story about housing, childcare, library services, climate impacts, or other county issues. Find your district at pima.gov/government/board-of-supervisors
Join a community organization: Groups like TASH (Tucson Alliance for Housing Justice), Pima County Interfaith Council, and Southern Arizona Climate Coalition are building collective power on these issues.
Support independent journalism: Three Sonorans provides critical coverage of local government that corporate media ignores. Your subscription helps us continue bringing you these detailed investigations and analysis of how power operates in our community—and who benefits from policy decisions that often happen without public scrutiny.
What matters most isn't what happens inside the Board chambers, but what we do outside them to build the community pressure needed for transformational change. Together, we can create a Pima County that works for everyone, not just the privileged few.
How does your family rely on BOTH libraries AND preschool programs? Do you think it's fair to fund one at the expense of the other?
Would you support a dedicated funding source for early childhood education that doesn't take money from existing library services?
Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below, and let's continue this important conversation.
Solidarity, not charity. People power, not austerity politics.
Quotes
Rex Scott (Chair, District 1): Democratic Board Chair who led the meeting and strongly advocated against Tucson Water's differential rates for unincorporated areas. "A third of their rate payers live in the unincorporated county, a third, and they are represented in each one of the five supervisor districts. Most of these folks have been Tucson Water customers for decades."
Dr. Matt Heinz (District 2): Physician and progressive Democrat who proposed the "Three Cents for Affordable Housing" initiative to address housing affordability. "Housing insecurity continues to go up and up and up and up. People are paying 50, 60, and 70 percent of their income to keep a roof over their heads."
Jennifer Allen (Vice Chair, District 3): Progressive supervisor focused on sustainability and equity issues who emphasized the interconnection between housing and other county challenges. "I put that next to the other costs that we incur by not investing in housing. The costs that we incur for law enforcement, the costs that we incur around the jail..."
Steve Christy (District 4): Lone Republican on the Board who consistently opposed progressive initiatives including climate action, affordable housing, and preschool funding. Voted against all 14 PEEPS program funding items and the climate resolution, exemplifying conservative resistance to social investments.
Andrés Cano (District 5): Outspoken progressive supervisor representing predominantly Latino south side communities who took a controversial position supporting differential water rates. "Tucson Water's effort to rebalance rates under the guidance of a cost of service study and in compliance with court orders is not about exclusion, it's about sustainability."
Jan Lesher (County Administrator): Top county official whose memos revealed the unsustainability of funding PEEPS through library taxes. "The Library District does not have sufficient revenue streams to sustain a $10 million PEEPs program on an annual basis without significant restructuring."
Gabriella Cazares Kelly (County Recorder): Election official who emphasized the voter access benefits of vote centers. "Going from 27 percent of provisional ballots to 9 means more people's votes counted, that more people were confident in the system."
Marty Voskis: County official who presented the alarming Wildfire Mitigation Plan. "Southern Arizona faces a heightened wildfire risk due to a severe D2 and extreme D3 drought. May through July temperatures are trending at 50 to 70% of abnormal."
Keith Bentley (Tucson Alliance for Housing Justice): Housing advocate who testified in support of affordable housing initiatives. "Every six months, I read another article about how the current pace of permitting and construction are nowhere near enough to get us out of the hole we're in."
David Peter Miller: Progressive prosecutor appointed as Justice of the Peace for Precinct 6, described as committed to "fairness, dignity, and real solutions that center people, not punishment" in a system that processes 140,000 cases annually.
Corey Stevens (Public speaker): Community member who warned about insurance companies abandoning Arizona due to climate risks. "What's happening is the insurance policies are being dropped... It's a huge issue, and you guys need to look into this because it's going to happen here where the insurance companies are going to back out."
Regina Romero (Tucson Mayor): Progressive mayor who identified the structural causes of budget shortfalls. "I cannot stress enough how much damage the Doug Ducey flat tax is doing. A flat tax on income really favors corporations and the wealthy in Arizona."
Ted Maxwell (Major General, Southern Arizona Leadership Council): Business leader who facilitated the "creative interpretation" that allowed library funds to be used for preschool. Instrumental in engineering the funding redirection without explicit voter approval.
Have a scoop or a story you want us to follow up on? Send us a message!
