It wasn't a particularly illustrious kickoff for the first bipartisan "round-table discussion" with the City Council and the Southern Arizona legislative delegation.
The meeting was designed primarily to shore up political support to protect state-shared revenues, which make up 25 percent of the city's general fund. City staffers tried to impress upon lawmakers the perilous budget straits they're in, saying the city is now $55 million in the hole - $4 million more than they've been saying, as a result of higher pension and medical premiums.
And that's if there are no further cuts to the state-shared revenues.
While a half-dozen legislative Democrats attended the meeting, they aren't the ones with the juice next session and are largely already allies with the Democratic-majority City Council.
Because of scheduling conflicts, or perhaps in some cases for political reasons, only one Republican showed up - state Rep. Vic Williams, who thought he'd be meeting with a few city officials informally, only to find it was a full-blown public meeting for which he'd never received an agenda. During an aside, he professed confusion about what he characterized as a "dog and pony show."
People are also reading…
"All I can think is they're trying to put lipstick on a pig, but they have a record of financial abuse and mismanagement, and the Legislature won't stand for that much longer," Williams said.
Later, his contribution to the round table was to suggest that if city officials wanted to see "true prosperity," they should take a tour around the satellites of Marana, Oro Valley, Sahuarita and Vail.
City Councilwoman Karin Uhlich countered by suggesting Williams should acknowledge there have been some successes in Tucson, including the redevelopment of Tucson Mall and some new development along the Campbell corridor.
Uhlich also stressed that the City Council and the Legislature have been in alignment regarding the embattled Rio Nuevo project, saying they both recognized the need for an audit. The council voted 6-0 in 2009 for an audit of the program but never moved forward with it, noting the state was poised to require one in a package of reforms.
"I think to deny we have found ourselves on the same page would be a disservice," she said.
Her council colleague Regina Romero said there is much to celebrate about Tucson's successes, but those haven't been trumpeted by the city or the local media.
She said she hopes there will be further meetings with the delegation and said she hopes to arm Williams and his GOP colleagues with information so they can defend the city at the state level.
Incoming state Rep. Bruce Wheeler, who formerly sat on the City Council, had some pointed questions for the city staff.
With police and fire predicting much slower response times under projected 10 percent cuts next year, Wheeler wanted to know how public safety can be weighed the same as parks.
City Manager Mike Letcher said the charter says parks will be a service offered by the city, but said he spent months in community dialogue following his appointment to the post in 2009 and determined the community considers parks a core service.
Wheeler also wanted to know why some popular programs have been suspended or reduced, given city staff levels at 1998 levels. "We were paving residential streets and filling potholes in 1998," he said.
Budget director Marie Nemerguth chalked it up to fixed costs and pointed out that population has increased 17 percent since then.
Wheeler said the city needs to handle Rio Nuevo the way his council handled the botched delivery of Central Arizona Project water in the 1990s - admit there were mistakes, fix them and move on with strong management.
On StarNet: Go to azstarnet.com/news/local/ govt-and-politics to read more about local and state government news.
Contact reporter Rhonda Bodfield at 573-4243 or rbodfield@azstarnet.com
