Political Notebook: Lagging sales tax not just a Tucson problem

We were skeptical and asked officials from a half-dozen Arizona cities and the state for sales-tax figures to see whether Tucson’s drift was an anomaly or typical. Figures came in too late for comparison and publication, but they are revealing.

Tucson’s sales-tax revenue rose relatively fast from 2021 through 2024, then dropped by about 1% from fiscal year 2024 to 2025. And the projections are that it dropped about 2.4% from fiscal 2025 to 2026, although the figures were not yet finalized.

Tucson Chief Financial Officer Anna Rosenberry cited three big factors for revenue leveling off since January 2025: Decreased international travel, the imposition of new tariffs, and overall economic uncertainty.

“The economic uncertainty in society is hard to work against,” city spokesman Andrew Squire chimed in.

But we wondered if that was just an excuse for an underperforming city. Three Arizona municipalities and the state responded to our inquiries by providing sales tax figures for comparison to Tucson.

It turns out Tucson’s trends have been pretty typical when compared with Oro Valley, Marana, Mesa and the state of Arizona. All of the jurisdictions had big sales-tax revenue increases in 2022. Tucson’s increase was 11.6%; Mesa’s was 19%; Oro Valley’s was 27%; Marana’s was 11%; and the state’s was 17.2%.

By 2024, in most places, the jurisdictions’ annual take continued increasing, but the increases got smaller. In fact, while Tucson’s sales tax revenue increased by 6.1%, Mesa’s declined slightly, and Oro Valley’s increased by just 1.2%.

Through 2025, the trends went downward in most places with one exception: Marana. That town’s sales tax revenue grew by an unusual 8% in 2025. But even Marana’s increase was only about 2% in fiscal 2026, which ended June 30; the town’s sales tax revenue is projected to go down in fiscal year 2027.

Oro Valley’s revenues were the laggard of the set, declining slightly overall between fiscal year 2022 and 2026.

So, among that set of examples, Tucson was pretty typical, not particularly bad.

— Tim Steller

COVID: Still a thing in CD6

The Democrat challenging Rep. Juan Ciscomani in Congressional District 6 had to cancel a planned door-knocking event last weekend. The reason: JoAnna Mendoza had COVID-19, a spokesman for the campaign told the Star. 

The campaign confirmed Mendoza had recovered by mid-week and is still planning on holding a grand opening for an eastside field office on Saturday.

— Hannah Cree

TUSD: Prop 320 a tall order

It could take Tucson Unified School District 18 years to reach Proposition 320’s required 60% of operational spending on direct instructional expenses, according to district officials.

The district reviewed the potential changes as an information item during Tuesday’s governing board meeting. Under Prop 320, which will be on the November ballot, most school districts in Maricopa, Pima and Pinal counties would need to increase their spending on direct instruction by half a percentage point each year until they reach 60% beginning in the 2027-2028 school year.

The district estimates that meeting the 60% threshold would require about $43 million in additional expenditures to be classified as direct instructional spending, assuming the current classifications are applied.

“When you think about direct instructional spending, we're talking about classroom teachers. We're talking about teacher assistants,” said TUSD chief financial officer Ricky Hernandez. Special education service providers, counselors, nurses, librarians, bus drivers and school maintenance do not count for the proposed measure, Hernandez said.

If the district didn’t comply with the requirements, the state would reduce classroom site funds by 25% each year of noncompliance — $9.7 million for TUSD — which wouldn’t be returned once compliance was met.

— Sierra Blaser

What’s this Tucson business council?

The Ciscomani campaign trumpeted this week an endorsement from the “Tucson Business Council.” Which sounds great, except for one question: What’s the Tucson Business Council?

It’s not the Chamber of Southern Arizona, which is the Tucson area’s best-known and probably largest business group, nor is it any of the numerous other longstanding chambers or business alliances.

Doug Martin, who is part of the group, said it was founded two years ago and that membership is private. But he said there are 24 members, who are all CEOs or business owners.

Martin ran a group of radio stations, via his company Good News Radio Broadcasting, for more than 30 years and now runs a marketing and public relations firm called Good News Communications.

— Tim Steller

Council member’s new business opens

Tucson City Council Member Selina Barajas has been working, with her husband Abraham, on opening a new coffee shop in South Tucson since before she took public office in December 2025.

It has had a soft opening over recent weeks and is poised for a grand opening on Oct. 1. It’s called Luna Y Sol Cafe and is at 137 W. 29th Street, between South Seventh Avenue and South Eighth Avenue.

The owners describe Luna y Sol Cafe on their website as “a community hub for emerging and existing creatives, entrepreneurs, students, artists, families and professionals.”

— Tim Steller