Archive for February 9th, 2009

I’ve had the opportunity to work with Alex on the JTED vote that passed a few years back. JTED is the overlay school district that helps teach technical skills to high school students. The local business community desperately needs the skilled trades from brick laying to automotive mechanics. Alex stepped in with both feet and was part of the team that rallied the business community to implement the program. Alex is running for Sahuarita Town Council and he would be a great addition to a town that is a great canvas to build the community of the future on. Here’s more about Alex from the Sahuarita Sun;

Alex Jacome

1. I come from a pioneer Southern Arizona family that dates back to the presidios of Santa Cruz, Tubac and Tucson. We have always been involved in professional, business, education, civic, political and cultural affairs. Most recently, I was the Government Liaison for the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association for 5 years. Prior to that I spent 12 years as the Assistant Director and Regional Manager for the Arizona State Registrar of Contractors. I have an Arizona Real Estate Broker’s License since 1981 and before I was the CEO of Jacome’s Department Stores in Tucson which were closed in 1980.

I am a 13 year resident of Sahuarita where my wife and I built our home. I am presently the Chair of the Sahuarita Economic Development Commission for the last 3 years and served as a member for the last 8 years. I also serve on the Sahuarita Capital Improvements Technical Committee and was recently elected to a 4 year term on the Governing Board of the Pima County Joint Technological Education District to which I was appointed by the Sahuarita Unified School District 2 years ago.

Past Chairmanships and terms on the Boards of Directors include, but are not limited to: The Arizona State Civil Rights Advisory Board, Arizona State Historical Society, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Arizona and Tucson Regional Town Halls, Tucson-Mexico Sister Cities Committee, Tucson Trade Bureau, Metropolitan Domestic Water Improvement District, Rotary club of Tucson, Red Cross, March of Dimes, Campfire and the Tucson Metropolitan YMCA. And I am a proud veteran of the United States Marine Corps.

2. Declining revenues are a problem everywhere. Fortunately the town has always been conservative in fiscal matters and it, unlike other jurisdictions, is in pretty good shape, comparatively speaking. The town is going to have to examine its financial situation in real terms and look at the projections in worst case scenarios. Living within its means is always the most prudent thing to do. If that doesn’t work, cuts in hours or even services might be in the cards. That does not include any health or safety issues. This will mean re-examining datelines for capital Improvement projects and delaying those until a healthier economic climate returns. In the meantime services should generate the income to support themselves. Some fees might be adjusted but raising them at this time might have an even more negative impact on growth. It is important to realize that Sahuarita is the only bright spot in the building and real estate industries and continues to outperform the other municipalities.

3. The town is presently developing guidelines for possible new developments and industries which might choose to come to Sahuarita or expand here. These will be on a case by case basis that will look at benefits to the town and its citizens, such as high wage jobs, expanded infrastructure, tax revenues and others. Growth should pay its way and that includes all that benefit. In return the town will be able to offer certain financial benefits through public/private partnerships. These come to the project without exposure to the town yet offering advantages for the applicant. They could include tax increment financing, improvement districts, redevelopment districts, community facilities districts, enterprise zones, bonding and property tax abatement.

4. The underpass at the school is critical whether the town pays or a partnership between Rancho Sahuarita, the school district and the Town can be negotiated. Ideally it should be the latter. It has to be big and airy enough that public safety is not compromised. To date all that has been offered is a narrow dark tunnel under the planned Sahuarita Road improvement. Practically speaking, it should resemble the pedestrian underpass in Tucson on Speedway, just east of Park Avenue. This causes major problems at each terminus in terms of real estate acquisition, drainage and utilities but all of that can be achieved by agreement among reasonable parties. The second proposed underpass should be the responsibility of the developer. The town might assist in the creation of an improvement or community facility district to finance the project.

5. Issues that face the town are many. The fiscal and economic situation in the short term, expansion and annexation, economic development, education, transportation, water and future developments in the long term, are but a few. Sound fiscal policy, conditions of the real world in the most conservative terms, public input and tapping the phenomenally astute and diverse talent pool that exists in the town to do so. Common sense and fiscal responsibility with vision and foresight is the mantra for success now and in the future. Lastly, the ability of the town leaders to make the tough decisions is what is best.

Now it’s Casa Grande that’s trying to make a play to woo the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies out of Tucson.

On Feb. 2, the city council there voted unamimously to put a referendum before voters May 19 asking for an approval of 0.9 percent sales tax to build a stadium that would attract the two teams.

“We want to see if the local community has an appetite for Spring Training,” said Mayor Bob Jackson said. “If so, we want to put this financing mechanism in place so that if a team becomes available over the next 10 years we would be in a position where we could begin immediate discussions with them.”

The Chicago White Sox paid Pima County $5 million last year to get out of its deal to use Tucson Electric Park. The team next month will begin Spring Training in Glendale. That has left local officials worried that both the Diamondbacks, who  train at TEP, and the Rockies, who train Hi Corbett Field, will follow the White Sox out of town.

Efforts to attract a third Major League Baseball team to Tucson have been unsuccessful.

So are either the Diamondbacks or Rockies interested in Casa Grande?

A call to Diamondbacks officials went unanswered.

An obviously perturbed Jay Alves, vice president of communications and public relations with the Rockies, didn’t want to talk about it saying it was premature. In fact the Rockies have been more proactive in trying to find alternatives that would allow them to stay in Tucson.

If Casa Grande voters approve of the May 19 measure, the tax would not go into effect or would bonds be sold until the city council approves an agreement with at least one baseball franchise.

Contact reporter Joe Pangburn at jpangburn@azbiz.com or (520) 295-4259.

I’ve had a few requests of late to share the comparison chart that I used during my campaign. What I I put together was a snap shot comparison of our Pima County to other western US counties over the 1 million population. I compared population, tax rates, unincorporated population and employees per 10k residents (county wide). I took quite a bit of heat from the media about the chart.

You can argue it from any way you want. The biggest push back I received from using it was that comparing Pima County to the other counties was not accurate. The arguments centered on the fact that other counties have different taxing methods (a few had property taxes and a sales tax), some argued that Pima County was in the hospital business or the wastewater business and that was unfair to compare to counties that didn’t have those burdens. True but let’s look at why and how much it costs us to be in the wastewater and hospital business. 

The hard and fast facts that jumped out at me was the large portion of unincorporated population and the employees to population figures.

For those of you that are interested, here’s the chart (click to make it larger).