Local opinion: Tucson budget reflects city's priorities despite shrinking federal support

I was proud to partner with my colleagues on the City Council to present a balanced budget for fiscal year 2027 that prioritizes meeting Tucsonans' everyday needs and filling as many funding gaps as possible. All of this, while cuts to vital programs being imposed by Congress on the entire country are hurting Tucsonans and taking away the very supports we rely on.

The federal cuts are too numerous to describe fully, but recent nutrition cutbacks give a sense of what we’re dealing with. Since July 2025, more than 205,000 Arizona children have stopped receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, a nation-leading 55 percent drop. That figure is far ahead of second-place Louisiana, which has seen a 22% drop. Child nutrition experts are calling it a public health crisis.

As with people receiving federal support for housing, utilities and other expenses, the Arizonans losing these benefits usually can’t afford more out-of-pocket costs. Hundreds of thousands of Arizona children no longer receiving SNAP benefits doesn’t mean tightening family budgets or kids learning the value of a dollar. It means hungry children going without meals.

Locally, this means that a third-grade student at 22nd and Craycroft is just as affected as a senior on 12th and Valencia or near Udall. Our neighbors in Barrio Hollywood will suffer as much as our residents in Blenman-Elm. Our veterans near Davis Monthan will be impacted, as well as our single parents near Dodge and Alvernon. The cuts imposed by the Federal government and those being passed on to city governments by the state legislature are being felt in our city coffers and in our residents' pocketbooks.

Our budget directly addresses the needs of Tucsonans by adding 50 additional police officers and maintaining support for low-barrier shelters like STAR Village and the Wildcat Inn. Our budget helps children and families fight the heat by providing extended access to pools and splash pads, and continues our support of KIDCO programs that help working families access safe and affordable childcare for their school-age children.

We are expanding the way we work with community members to keep Tucsonans safe through Violence Interruption and Vitalization Action (VIVA) our violence prevention and intervention program. Our budget helps Tucsonans find the resources they need through Housing First and our work with our Multi-Agency Resource Manager, all while balancing the delivery of these services with continued enforcement as appropriate.

We invest in additional day trucks for our Fire Department, cut costs by offering more video alternatives to jail during our Safe City Deployments, and make justice more efficient for everyone by expanding our community courts.

We invest $18 million dollars in our city employees as part of our commitment to moving everyone closer to fair, market-rate compensation. We’re taking significant strides and are proud to stand in lockstep on the importance of wage equity at the City level.

We continue to invest in affordable housing and support projects that will become homes for seniors, working families, young professionals, and members of our unsheltered community. We’re doing everything we can at the City level to meet our housing needs with the resources we have, including 1,200 affordable housing units already in the pipeline and continued support from Mayor and Council for further projects to come.

The impacts of the cuts we’re now facing demand more budget leadership than ever at the state and local level. I’m proud of the work my colleagues and I have done together over the past several months to present this balanced budget to Tucsonans. It reflects our values, priorities and commitments to the people of our City.

Investing in ourselves is the fiscally responsible thing to do. That’s what we’re doing with this budget. Any argument that across-the-board cuts are the prudent, necessary course of action should explain how they actually improve our quality of life. Meeting our community needs is the first responsibility of a functioning government. Cuts to children’s nutrition is not tough love, it’s an abdication of that responsibility.

The work that it takes to finalize a budget of this scope is never done by one small group acting alone. In addition to my colleagues on the Council, I want to thank City Manager Tim Thomure, Assistant City Manager Anna Rosenberry, and the many city staff members who helped to propose the options for consideration throughout this budgeting process. I want to thank the many community members who provided thoughtful input beginning last Fall and throughout this budget cycle. This budget is a product of genuine public participation and careful study.

The fiscal year 2027 budget takes effect July 1 and runs until June 30, 2027. It is the right budget for Tucson’s needs. It is a budget that works to help our bonding agencies be confident that our city remains attractive to potential lenders and investors as we prepare for the upcoming bond ratings. In addressing the needs of Tucsonans and funding the programs and services that support them, our budget reflects an approach to governing that I hope to see more of from Congress and our state legislature in the future.