Break out the flags and smiles for Memorial Day

Memorial Day has the distinction this year of falling on the same day as Cookie Monster’s birthday and Geek Pride Day.

Of the three, of course, Memorial Day is the classiest, a much-needed tribute to the men and women who have sacrificed themselves for our country.

Tucson Memorial Day activities include:

• Memorial Day parade and ceremony at Veteran’s Memorial Park at Tucson Estates, time to be announced

• Rita Ranch’s Memorial Day Service at Purple Heart Park, 10050 E. Rita Road, time to be announced

• F-16 flybys over cemeteries, honoring those who have died for our country, by Arizona Air National Guard’s 162nd Fighter Wing based in Tucson

• Barbecues, picnics and lots of ants

• A lengthy, three-day weekend with a free day Monday (for most folks, or at least for many)

• Sales on couches, appliances and other big items that no one can afford right about now anyway

Tucson Cookie Monster birthday activities may include:

• Binging on Oreos, Fig Newtons and almond creations

• A rush to the store to buy furry blue puppets

Geek Pride Day should contain:

• A Star Trek marathon

• Dressing up as Mr. Spock

• Dressing up as Cookie Monster

Are you perhaps dating a geek and don’t even know it?

Check out the article Top 10 Signs You Are Dating a Geek and other Tucson dating articles at: www.examiner.com/x-5836-Tucson-Dating-Examiner

You may even find some tips that get you a date for Memorial Day.

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What’s your favorite thing to do on Memorial Day?

Buy a couch? Eat a cookie? Hang out with a geek?

Don't forget to honor our military on Memorial Day

Tucson Marines Kyle Heppler and Shelby Shields are engaged to be married, which will happen when he returns from his deployment.

Shelby Shields and Kyle Heppler are engaged to be married, but their engagement is a bit different than most.

Rather than picking out dinnerware patterns or cake designs, Shields, 19, is stationed in Japan while Heppler, 20, is being deployed for the third time in his military career. The first two deployments took him to Iraq. This time he’s going to Afghanistan.

Most newly engaged couples don’t have to wonder if the groom will be alive to see the wedding.

“I think the scariest moment in my whole career was when I got orders for another deployment, just a week after asking Shelby to marry me,” Marine Lance Cpl. Heppler wrote in an e-mail from North Carolina, where he was sent from Japan to await his deployment.

“I remember the exact moment Kyle told me he was being deployed again. We were walking to the PX and he stopped me on the side of the road and said, ‘I have some really bad news,’” Marine Lance Cpl. Shields wrote in an e-mail from Okinawa.

“I felt my heart drop into my stomach and all I could do was hug him and hold on for dear life because my legs felt like Jell-o and I thought if I let go I might fall.”

The couple figured since Heppler had already been to Iraq twice in his three years with the Marines, they could make plans without worrying about another deployment.

“But that’s the Marine Corps,” Shields wrote, not with malice but with simple truthfulness.

Besides, based on the way that they met, the two are pretty used to drama.

They met in 2001, when Heppler was Shields’ friend’s boyfriend.

“I know, bad,” Shields wrote. “But she introduced me to him and we didn’t talk again until the messy breakup.”

Shields even played “middle man” on the phone when the actual breakup was going down. She kept Heppler’s number. He kept hers.

“Very soon after we were talking on the phone every night and the rest is history,” she said.

Their mutual love for service got them both into the military. Sort of.

“I joined the Marines in order to give back to my country what it’s given me, become a master at the Marine Corps martial arts program and to see the world,” Heppler said.

Shields signed up, in part, because Heppler was already enlisted. And she couldn’t stand the thought of four years of college after high school.

“If you would have asked me three or four years ago if I ever saw myself in the military I would probably laugh at you,” Shields said. Her original career goal, decided at age 3, was to be dolphin trainer. She later became interested in design.

Neither regrets their decision to become a Marine, regardless of how many times Heppler may get sent to Iraq.

“Every time I go home I’m reminded of what a good decision the Marine Corps was for me,” Shields said. “I love my friends dearly but a bunch have dropped out of college or are close to it, or still have no idea what they want to do with their life and wasted all that money.”

Both miss Tucson, their family, their dogs. Both also look forward to the care packages sent from home.

Shields especially appreciates the packages from Tucson Area Marine Moms, of which her mother is a part.

Heppler has gotten a laugh from a do-it-yourself Brazilian waxing kit and a half-empty tube of toothpaste a Maryland fifth grader stole from his parents.

“His mother apparently told him that we can’t shave or brush our teeth very often,” Heppler said.

Even the dangerous deserts of Iraq have humorous moments.

“The funniest thing I’ve ever seen was in Iraq during a sandstorm,” Heppler wrote. “A Marine I knew was in a Port-O-Potty while it was happening. Wind gusts of near 100 mph blew the stall over while he was in it. It took us 30 minutes to get him out because we were laughing so hard.”

Please note: this story was written last week and never published due to circumstance beyond our control.

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Shelby Shields in uniform.

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Heppler

For D’backs, Rockies, third team

A Marana spring training complex as a February-March site for Major League Baseball is still in the works and could be home to up to three clubs.

“We really think we can populate a three-team facility in Marana,” said Tom Tracy, chairman of the Pima County Sports and Tourism Authority.

And two of those teams could still be the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies, he added.

Both MLB teams are exploring options to move from their Tucson spring training homes at Tucson Electric Park and Hi Corbett Field, respectively.

The Diamondbacks’ contract with Pima County to conduct spring training at TEP expires in 2012. The Rockies are obligated to play at Hi Corbett through 2011.

But Tracy maintained the move of either team is far from a done deal, despite a published report out of Phoenix that indicated the Diamondbacks may be close to a decision to relocate spring camp to the Phoenix area.

“I spoke with the Diamondbacks as recently as 24 hours ago,” Tracy said. “They have not made a decision to leave.”

The Arizona Republic reported Wednesday that Diamondbacks Chief Executive Derrick Hall said the team was considering three proposals for new spring training facilities in Maricopa County.

But team officials also have said they are interested in the proposed Marana spring training complex, particularly if the regional sports authority is successful in bringing a third MLB team to share such a facility with Tucson’s existing Cactus League teams, Tracy said.

“We are having active conversations with another major league team to have them come here as early as next spring,” Tracy said.

He declined to name the team.

Talks continue with a Japanese major league team to join the Cactus League and play its games at TEP, Tracy said.

A major component of the Pima County Sports and Tourism Authority’s mission is to establish a nationally known baseball academy in Tucson, in conjunction with Major League Baseball and the Chicago White Sox.

The region could become a national site for youth and amateur baseball tournaments, as well, Tracy said.

The White Sox set off the potential loss of spring training in Tucson when the team moved this year to a new facility in Glendale that it shares with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who moved from their longtime Grapefruit League home in Vero Beach, Fla.

The Diamondbacks’ and Rockies’ contracts allow them to leave early if there are not at least three MLB teams training in Tucson.

Tracy said the sports authority also is considering life after the Diamondbacks and Rockies, if those teams decide to leave.

“There is a lot going on and there is a lot going on outside of the Diamondbacks and Rockies,” he said without elaborating.

The sports authority would need permission from both the Arizona Legislature and Pima County voters to enact a tax to fund a new complex in Marana. The proposed tax would be on hotel rooms, restaurants, and other businesses that benefit from the estimated $30 million that spring training brings to Tucson.

ABOVE: Gabriel Baca (left), his brother Antonio Baca (center) and Jose Rivera enjoy the new sodded athletic field at St. John's Community Park, 3610 S. 12th Ave.

LEFT: Stephanie Prinzing's dogs Hopper (front) and Spike wait to get a drink from the dog water fountain at Jacinto Park, 2600 N. 15th Ave.

BELOW: Sandra Ramirez pushes daughter Natalia Navarro, 3, on a swing at Jacinto Park.

It was a long wait, but residents of the Miracle Manor Neighborhood finally have a park with amenities like other city parks.

“We’ve been asking, ‘Why can’t we have equipment in a park that is 60 years old?’ ” Jim Quinn, vice president of the Miracle Manor Neighborhood Association, said Thursday.

Neighbors will gather at 9 a.m. Saturday at Jacinto Park, 2600 N. 15th Ave., to dedicate improvements that neighborhood residents had sought: a ramada, connecting sidewalks, a swing set with rubberized safety surfacing, a drinking fountain, picnic and game tables and a basketball half court.

Getting them was a chore since funds came from both the city and Pima County, said Marsha Quinn, the neighborhood association’s liaison with Tucson and Pima County.

The project’s $268,331 came from four sources: a $203,331 Pima County Neighborhood Reinvestment grant, $30,000 each from the Mayor’s Office and Ward 3 Back to Basics programs, and a $5,000 grant from PRO (People, Resources, Organizations) Neighborhoods.

St. John’s Community Park, 3610 S. 12th Ave., will be dedicated at 2 p.m. Wednesday and also will have new facilities.

The land is owned by St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, which is leasing it to the city as a park site for 25 years.

Funds for the improvements came from grants from both the city and county, said Leslie Nixon, of the Pima County Neighborhood Reinvestment and Preservation Office.

A $500,000 Pima County grant funded construction of a skateboard facility at the park, Nixon said.

Other improvements include crushed stone paths, athletic field landscaping, a ramada, picnic tables and benches.

Leal says Trasoff meeting in “twos and threes” with colleagues improper

City Council budget talks derailed Tuesday amid allegations of a violation of the state’s Open Meetings Law.

In proposing a plan to cut spending to nonprofit groups and other jurisdictions that could save the city $1 million, Councilwoman Nina Trasoff described meeting with her colleagues “in twos or in threes.”

The descriptions raised questions for at least one council member who was not included, as three of his colleagues were. A meeting of four council members represents a quorum and makes public notice necessary under the law.

After listening to Trasoff’s explanation of her proposal and how she came to it, Councilman Steve Leal said: “That’s really a violation of the Open Meetings Law. That violates transparency.”

He said he was rebuked in the 1990s for similar action.

Trasoff said later that she met separately with council members Regina Romero, Karin Uhlich and Shirley Scott “to get their input on some of the things I was thinking.”

She said what she proposed integrated her colleagues’ suggestions, so she felt that she could not alone take credit for the savings plan.

“But it doesn’t represent an agreement,” she said. “And we didn’t vote. I’m not even sure that my colleagues would vote for it.”

Trasoff denied that her meetings were inappropriate.

“There was no rotation (of speaking with other council members),” she said. “There was no collusion.”

At least one legal expert said Trasoff’s chain of meetings was an example of “polling the public body” and a violation of the law.

“If she’s meeting with them separately and trying to achieve consensus, it’s a violation,” said Dan Barr, a lawyer who specializes in media law with Perkins Coie Brown and Bain in Phoenix. “Why is she meeting with a quorum if not to achieve a level of consensus?”

Barr said that if a court was to find that there was a violation, it would nullify legal action related to the illegal discussion.

In this case, that means the city budget and its most politically sensitive bits.

Trasoff said her motivation in identifying the savings was to avoid instituting a tax on residential rental properties, a proposal hundreds of Tucsonans have protested at public hearings.

Protesters have highlighted the city’s $12.7 million allocation to so-called “outside agencies” such as Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities, the Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Tucson Pima Arts Council as a place to cut spending and thus avoid the $17.4 million in proposed tax increases in a $1.3 billion budget.

That funding, however, has historically gone to organizations that function as key sources of political support and to groups that officials view as complementary to their policy aims.

Before the acrimony broke out, City Manager Mike Letcher tried to make clear what those policy aims are in the context of the budget.

“One of the things we need to explore is ultimately, what kind of community do we want in the future?” he said. “. . . $68 million (in expected sales tax revenue) is gone, and that’s serious.”

Marie Nemerguth, assistant to the city manager, said that under the proposed budget, residents can expect stable public safety staffing and a cut of 8.6 percent to the allocation to outside agencies from the year before.

She described how the city has eliminated 400 positions, cut department budgets by more than 7 percent and public safety allocations by 2.5 percent, as well as forcing employees to take what amounts to a 2 percent pay cut and benefits cutback.

Trasoff portrays her proposal as a way to face the issue head-on.

She suggests funding two job training programs that began under Pima County Interfaith Council, a group with substantial political clout, for six months and then requiring JobPath and School Plus Jobs to submit to a competitive process.

She recommends cuts to the amounts Letcher recommended the council give to Tucson Gem and Mineral Society and other groups but adding funding to Tucson Botanical Gardens, Tucson Children’s Museum, Tucson Museum of Art and the Critical Path Institute.

“It’s just a concept,” she said, after running through the changes.

Scott and Romero backed Trasoff up, at least about the appropriateness of the meetings.

Scott bristled at Leal’s suggestion that the talks were out of line, pointing out that she sometimes has lunch with him.

Romero said she thought Leal took the meetings out of context.

“I have to have the opportunity to speak to my colleagues, of course without breaking the law,” she said. “I really appreciate (Trasoff) wanting to build some consensus in the group.”

Romero also said she disagreed with the central point of Trasoff’s plan – deciding which outside agency gets what – preferring instead “an across-the-board, depoliticized cut” based on this fiscal year’s allocations.

Uhlich, who listened to the meeting by phone, didn’t enter the debate and focused on her proposal: to increase the utility tax by 2 percent instead of 1 percent to replace the rental tax.

After the study session, City Attorney Mike Rankin said, “There was no violation of the Open Meetings Law today.”

As to whether Trasoff’s string of meetings constituted a violation, he said, “From what I heard today, no comment.”

It has been virtually impossible to stop telecommunications companies from placing cell phone towers in residential areas because of federal law, but Pima County officials will look for ways to reject some towers anyway.

The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday directed planning staffers to look at code amendments that would require telecommunications companies to prove the necessity of towers in certain locations.

“We can’t just take their word for it,” Supervisor Sharon Bronson said of accepting telecommunications companies’ declarations that new towers must be placed in specific locations to improve cell phone service.

The issue arose from a federal lawsuit against the county by T-Mobile, a subsidiary of the German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom, over a conditional use permit for a cell tower the company wants to locate in the Picture Rocks area northwest of Tucson.

The county rejected the tower because of its proximity to existing homes and its probable visual impacts to the scenic area. The company sued.

Supervisors and T-Mobile reached a tentative settlement last week allowing T-Mobile to erect the tower at a different location pending later approval of a conditional use permit.

Still, county officials are grasping for a legal means to gain more control over the placement of cell towers.

The federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibited local jurisdictions from banning cell phone towers outright. It also does not allow communities to ban cell phone towers at specific locations because of public health or safety concerns.

“We can’t consider health effects at all,” Bronson said.

That restriction should be abandoned, Bronson said.

No studies have directly linked long-term exposure to radio frequencies emitted by the towers to negative health effects in humans or animals.

But the National Research Council, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, in 2008 released a report that said not enough study has been done to determine if there are negative health impacts, particularly on children, pregnant women and fetuses.

Supervisor Ann Day said a recent California court ruling “breaks the locks” on the strict interpretation of the telecommunications law and will allow local governments more leeway when considering the pros and cons of where cell towers should be placed.

Teri Melendez, principal at Borton Primary Magnet and Holladay Intermediate Magnet, will be at Borton four days a week. The fifth day she'll be at Holladay, where an assistant principal will be in charge most of the time, said Chief Academic Officer Maggie Shafer.

Two schools in Tucson Unified School District will go without principals next year, opting for less costly assistant principals so they will have more money for things like school supplies and staff members.

Those decisions, at Holladay Intermediate Magnet and Richey Elementary, and hundreds more on cutting expenses were included in reports by school site councils in the last several weeks and turned into TUSD last month.

Superintendent Elizabeth Celania-Fagen had authorized schools this spring to make the cuts instead of having central administration do it. Site councils consist of parents and staff.

Obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, the documents tell a bare-bones story for next year if potential cuts of up to 18 percent are realized. Schools had to turn in two plans – one for cuts of 10 percent, another for 18 percent. They should find out which level is needed in June.

The no-principal plan was one of many in which school communities tried to creatively deal with expected legislative cuts to TUSD’s budget of $20 million to $45 million for fiscal 2009-10, which starts July 1.

Spending for campus monitors dwindles or disappears at many high schools. So does funding for fine arts.

Reports from Utterback Middle Magnet School of the Arts, Hohokam Middle School and Booth-Fickett Math/Science Magnet appear to keep spending for supplies and some staff relatively the same at both the 10 percent and 18 percent levels, but have the number of teachers decrease.

Alice Vail Middle School’s biggest cut is in supplies. It’s allotting itself nearly $17,829 in main office and attendance office supplies under the 10 percent cut scenario, but only $1,114 if the cuts are at 18 percent. Teaching supply allocations there go from $11,143 at 10 percent to $6,686 at 18 percent.

At other middle and elementary schools, counselors, librarians and monitors are too costly to keep. But they kept their principals.

Richey and Holladay this year already have only half-time principals. Richey shares Ruben Diaz with Carrillo Magnet; Holladay shares Teri Melendez with Borton Primary Magnet.

But the schools chose to let Diaz be full time at Carrillo next year. Melendez will be at Borton four days a week. The fifth day she’ll be at Holladay, where an assistant principal will be in charge most of the time, said Chief Academic Officer Maggie Shafer.

Shafer said she has faith in the plans. At Richey the assistant principal will “continue the positive momentum created this year by Diaz . . . and at Holladay, the assistant principal will continue to make the school a more robust magnet.”

Other dual-principal schools took the opportunity for self-determination to change their circumstances.

Davis Bilingual Magnet Elementary and Roskruge, both an elementary and bilingual middle school, which shared a principal this year, will each have a full-time principal next year. Roskruge will lose an assistant principal.

Manzo and Rogers elementaries will go from a half-time to full-time principals next year. Bloom Elementary will go from a half-time principal to one four days a week, as will Sewell Elementary.

Marshall Elementary, at 18 percent cuts, will opt for a two-thirds-time principal.

Another Chief Academic Officer, Ross Sheard, said he worries there will be fewer chances to offer advanced classes next year and fewer people to supervise students – and employees.

Said Tucson Education Association President Steve Courter: There could be some real implications, especially for schools that don’t get any federal funding. “And still we are not hearing anything positive from the governor or the Legislature.”

Gomez

For Republican Judith Gomez, running for the Ward 5 seat on the City Council is about telling the truth.

“That’s the foundation of my life,” the 27-year-old mother of three said. “That’s what I teach my sons. Sometimes it’s going to be hard, but it’s about integrity.”

On the matter of truth-telling, she wants to start with the city budget, with how the city ought to manage its cash as a family does: necessities first.

“The council says they put public safety first, but I think when you study the way that they’re disbursing the money, it’s not true,” said Gomez, the wife of a Pima County Sheriff’s Department sergeant.

She says public safety is at the top of her priority list. She thinks the budget proposed for the fiscal year that begins July 1 diverts money from the city’s necessities, which she lists as public safety, smooth roads and economic development.

“They’re sending money to things that are less important than public safety,” Gomez said.

Among the recipients of money Gomez would prefer went to the Tucson Police Department are Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities and the Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Honesty and family are undercurrents when Gomez speaks about seeking the council seat for Ward 5, roughly the area south of 22nd Street. Democrat Steve Leal has held the seat for 20 years but chose not to run for re-election.

Gomez describes her decision to decline admission to college as a quest for a greater challenge.

“I grew up in a broken home,” she said. “The challenge I decided to take up was to have a family and the security of a family and to have that family be healthy.”

She became a bookkeeper, a guardian of financial accountability, she says, emphasizing that she’s quick to learn.

“Just because I don’t maybe have the same things behind me that other people have, I can do this. I can learn,” she said.

Gomez hopes the Legislature won’t obliterate the funding for downtown redevelopment, but she advocates an overhaul.

“We need to build something that will bring revenue to Tucson,” she said. “Rio Nuevo was supposed to bring (progress) to Tucson, not decay, not delay.”

She says she’s opposed to a tax increase and thinks the current City Council is ducking its responsibilities by laying too much blame on the national economy.

As a solution, she offers an ear. She pledges to listen closely to Ward 5′s residents.

The other part of her solution is compromise. “You can’t find solutions by being rigid,” she said.

Shaun McClusky of the GOP is also seeking the Ward 5 seat, as is Democrat Richard Fimbres. The primary will be held in September.

Private firm cleaning up at Tucson’s expense

Bill Hill and Chris Landeen dump their trash at the Los Reales Landfill, 5300 E. Los Reales Road.

Tucson officials estimate a transfer station opened in November by garbage giant Waste Management will siphon 100,000 tons of trash and $3 million in revenue from the city over the next year.

The lost revenue, in combination with plummeting prices for recyclables and high prices for gas, mean the 5-year-old and much scorned city garbage fee is set to go up. Landfill fees have already seen increases.

Environmental Services Department Director Andrew Quigley has asked the City Council to raise the trash fee to $14.50 per month beginning July 1.

A City Council vote on the proposed 3.6-percent increase is set to follow a public hearing June 2.

That day, the council also is slated to tentatively approve a $1.3 billion budget that, as of Friday, included $12.4 million in new or increased taxes and millions more in raised fees. The same day, the council will weigh whether to raise bus fares.

With a budget that relies heavily on sales tax receipts, the city has been struggling to pay its daily bills.

The Environmental Services Department is in similar shape, also having to contend with volatile gas and recyclables prices and relying on sources of funding that are on the decline, most notably private haulers’ landfill fees.

While the public landfill business appears on a downhill slide, Waste Management is reporting increased landfill profits.

The company stated in its first quarter earnings statement that its landfill revenues rose 3.1 percent from the same year before even as its overall earnings dropped more than 16 percent amid a recession.

Waste Management operates the largest network of landfills in the country, with 277 sites accepting more than 116 million tons of waste per year, according to its Web site.

Two of those sites are in the Tucson area, and both have represented challenges to the local governments operating nearby dumps.

A transfer station at 5200 W. Ina Road contributed to Pima County raising landfill fees last year and second-guessing the timing of the closure of its Northwest Side landfill at Tangerine Road.

The opening of Rincon Transfer Station at 5890 S. Mann Ave. in November is causing consternation among city officials because private haulers who once dropped waste at the city’s Los Reales Landfill have begun using the Waste Management facility.

Quigley estimates the shift will mean 20 percent less trash – 100,000 tons – entering the city’s Los Reales landfill next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Waste Management Arizona spokeswoman Melissa Quillard would not say how much trash the Mann Avenue transfer station accepts. She said publicizing the information could give competitors an advantage.

But Quigley is certain a large proportion of the trash that had been going to Los Reales is now headed for ultimate disposal at Waste Management’s Maricopa and Pinal county dumps.

In a bid to recoup some of the financial losses that follow from the diverted trash, Quigley has offered cut rates to haulers that promise to deliver a set amount of waste.

He hasn’t received any responses yet, though he said haulers expressed interest when he first came up with the deal.

“Right now, we’re just waiting,” he said.

Councilwoman Nina Trasoff praised Quigley for his attempt to extend a deal to the haulers.

“I think that the money he’s going to recoup that way is a very creative approach,” she said.

Regardless of how successful the contract program is in luring haulers back to Los Reales, Environmental Services will almost definitely need other revenue to stay in the black.

That leaves the City Council with an unpopular political decision and one that brushes up against campaign promises made by at least two council members.

Both Trasoff and Councilwoman Karin Uhlich campaigned against the $14 a month trash fee four years ago, saying it was too expensive and implemented inappropriately.

They said when the fee was imposed the year before – 2004 – public comment opportunities were lacking and the waiver program for low-income city residents was inadequate.

Now they’re faced with upping the price.

“(Raising the trash fee) will never make me happy,” Trasoff said. “But it’s been demonstrated that there’s a real need and the money is used for garbage services. I can live with it so long as I know that we have a meaningful waiver program in effect.”

Uhlich takes a similar stance, though she puts the proposed increase in the context of a plan to attach fees to indexes.

“I think there seems to be support on the council to apply indexes across all city fees so that we avoid the large adjustments, which are historically more the norm,” she said.

The reason for indexing, Uhlich said, is that increases will be predictable and therefore easier to incorporate into budgets.

So that applying an index wouldn’t simply mean prices increase gradually but without any relationship to cost trends, Uhlich suggests using indexes that apply directly to the fee at hand.

A fuel index, for example, could be applied to a garbage fee because fuel is one of the primary costs in collecting trash, she said.

Councilman Rodney Glassman, like Trasoff, is not entirely opposed to indexing, though he is wary of applying indexes across the board.

“It’s important when looking at the question of indexing to consider other factors such as the economy and the actual cost of providing the services,” he said. “I support indexing as part of a pricing model but not something that can be relied upon as the sole indicator of price adjustment.”

He advocates giving department directors more leeway in setting fees and running departments more like businesses.

He also thinks the trash fee increase is a better alternative to letting garbage services suffer because there’s not enough money to pay for them.

“It’s unrealistic to think that the department can continue to provide services without adjusting their rates over time,” he said.

Councilwoman Regina Romero also seems to accept the fee increase but is less enthusiastic about using an index.

“It seems that the fees are accumulating,” she said. “At the same time, I see the budget holes.”

The Rincon Recycling and Transfer facility, 5890 S. Mann Ave.

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TRASH AT A GLANCE

Los Reales Landfill, 5300 E. Los Reales Road

Hours: 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday

Residential rates: $10 for a covered load weighing less than a ton; $30 per ton for heavier, covered loads; uncovered loads cost $5 more

Commercial rates: $30 per ton for covered loads; $5 more for uncovered loads

Waste Management’s Rincon Transfer Station, 5890 S. Mann Ave.

Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday; 7 a.m. to noon Saturday

Residential rates: $38 per ton plus $14 per load for loads weighing less than 500 pounds

Commercial rates: $38 per ton plus about $5 in variable fees

Source: City of Tucson and Waste Management

Pima County would be hit with about $13 million more in contributions to the state long-term care program under a House committee proposal in the still-unapproved Arizona budget.

The proposal by the House Appropriations Committee would hit Pima and Maricopa counties for a combined $55 million more in contributions to the state general fund in the coming fiscal year – with Maricopa contributing the majority.

The proposal drew immediate response from Pima County officials, who this fiscal year had to scramble to replace $3.2 million from case reserves taken by the state to balance this year’s state budget.

“We weren’t pleased with the added $3.2 for ALTCS last year, let alone the $13 million more now,” Martin Willett, deputy county administrator, said Friday.

The long-term care program pays for people in nursing homes and health care for the blind and the disabled.

Willett said the $13 million the county could be paying was not included in the recently-released fiscal 2010 county budget of about $1.37 billion. The budget is scheduled to be tentatively approved May 19. The fiscal year begins July 1.

County officials have worked since late last year to eliminate a projected $38 million budget deficit – mostly through across-the-board department cuts of 7.5 percent to 10 percent, a wage and hiring freeze and layoffs, mostly in the Pima County Development Services Department.

“There was no real explanation from legislative staff on the rationale for this,” Willett said.

Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Pleasant Valley, is a proponent of transferring revenue from the counties to the state general fund.

Kavanagh on Friday said that the counties could see the money returned in the form of federal stimulus funding that will come to Arizona.

Kavanagh said the state budget is far from ready for votes by both the House and Senate, and transmittal to Gov. Jan Brewer.

“We still have a lot of talking to do,” he said. “It could be a week; it could be a month,” Kavanagh said.

County governments are experiencing budget crises just like the state, which has a projected $3 billion deficit for next fiscal year, Willett said.

“Are we just supposed to write them a check?” Willett asked.

There is no guarantee that the state would return the money to counties from federal stimulus funds, either, Willett said.

Shaun McClusky describes representing the South Side on the City Council as his “sole ambition.”

“I’m not using this as a steppingstone,” he said, hinting that some members of the council intend to move on.

McClusky, 37, a Republican, said he is running for the Ward 5 council seat now held by Democrat Steve Leal, who is not seeking re-election, in part because he feels like public safety has been given an unwarranted back seat in city government.

“The most basic function of government is public security and public safety, and they haven’t provided that,” he said of the current, Democrat-dominated council.

McClusky is a former Davis-Monthan airman now working as a Realtor and property manager for Rincon Ventures, a company he helped found in 2007.

McClusky backs the citizen’s initiative being funded by the Tucson Association of Realtors that – if it makes it onto November ballots and passes – would increase the number of police officers and firefighters.

He also wants to make sure that money allocated to police is not diverted.

McClusky is especially concerned that funds intended for public safety are distributed instead to what city officials call “outside agencies” – nonprofits and other groups that provide services complementing those provided by the city, for example, crisis services.

He worries those groups look for handouts too quickly, an idea anathema to his small-businessman identity, he said.

He said easing restrictions on businesses and increasing economic development measures are high on his priority list.

McClusky is critical of the budget proposal the council is currently considering not only because he said he thinks more money should go to police and fire, but also because he’s against tax increases. As a property manager, he’s dead set against the proposed rental tax.

Calling himself a problem solver instead of a politician, McClusky promotes “an economically sensible approach.” He cites investing in geothermal energy for long-term savings and reducing city services to primary obligations, such as public safety, as examples of that.

He pledges to embody that sensibility by rejecting the vehicle and gas payments that are a council perk.

Looks elsewhere to help balance the budget

After two weeks of public hearings and negotiations about Tucson’s proposed budget, City Manager Mike Letcher has submitted revisions.

Letcher’s plan softens what hundreds of residents told the City Council was the most onerous part of the $1.3 billion proposed budget – a tax on landlords who own three or more residential rental properties in Arizona.

Several council members have hinted they’re opposed to the tax, which hundreds protested at recent public hearings. It is one of several proposed taxes and fee increases in Letcher’s budget that are expected to raise $17.4 million. The money could help balance a budget facing large shortfalls because of steep declines in sales tax collections.

Letcher now suggests a 1 percent tax on rental properties, instead of the 2 percent he initially proposed. The change would mean about $5 million in new revenue.

To help compensate for receiving about $5 million less in new revenues than estimated in his first proposal, Letcher suggested eliminating a $2 million payment to the city’s Housing Trust Fund that was intended to cushion the financial blow to renters. The trust fund provides down payment and rental assistance, among other services.

He also recommends increasing Parks & Recreation Department fees to bring in another $200,000. No details were provided on which fees would be affected. Letcher’s earlier proposal had left the fees untouched.

Cuts in payments to nonprofits and other governments considered “outside agencies” were also proposed as a way to balance the books.

Letcher suggested a $1 million cut in distributions to nonprofits and other groups from the current fiscal year, bringing the total to be divvied up to $11.7 million. Those groups got nearly $15 million from the city last fiscal year.

Letcher wrote in the letter delivered with his proposed budget that the council would have to decide how to allocate the “outside agencies” pool.

It’s a decision council members dread because the groups that have historically received the money have been strong sources of political support.

Ideas on how to enact the cuts range from making a strong statement of priorities with the money to using the list of last year’s recipients and slashing evenly across the board.

Letcher also looked to raise bus fares to make up some financial ground.

An increase in bus fares – the issue that prompted hundreds to speak out at council meetings last year – would be used to offset about $1.8 million of a proposed $32 million contribution from the city’s general fund to its mass transit fund. No fare increase was included in the city manager’s earlier proposal.

The council is considering raising regular fares to $1.25 from $1 and day passes to $3 from $2. Economy fares would not be affected.

Under an agreement with the Regional Transportation Authority, the city must contribute $32 million to the transit system next fiscal year as “maintenance of effort,” Transportation Director Jim Glock said.

Including bus fares in the city’s general fund payment would not violate the agreement, Glock said, noting that service levels would be maintained.

Councilwoman Karin Uhlich rallied opposition to a fare increase last summer. She has said she would prefer a fare increase be pumped back into the transit system.

Under that scenario, federal grants that are now used for maintenance could also help pay for new buses, said Roy Cuaron, transportation finance director.

The council is scheduled to discuss the changes during a study session Tuesday.

Also set for Tuesday is a public hearing on how the city plans to spend its $2.5 million federal stimulus allocation aimed to preventing homelessness.

The proposed expenditures include short-term rental assistance, moving costs and data collection.

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IF YOU GO

• What: Tucson City Council meeting

•When: Study session begins at 2 p.m., regular session at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday

•Where: Council Chambers, 255 W. Alameda St.

An anticipated crush of new housing on the Southwest Side over the next 25 years has Pima County officials prepping to ensure that development will help pay for the costs of infrastructure improvements.

County engineers have come up with an 83-page Southwest Infrastructure Plan to project transportation capital improvements that will be needed to accommodate an estimated 44,600 new homes in an area bordered by Tucson Mountain Park, Mission and Sandario roads, and the boundary of the Tohono O’odham San Xavier District.

Much of the open space is state trust land, which by law must be sold or leased at auction to the highest bidders – almost always private development interests.

On June 2, the Pima County Board of Supervisors will discuss the establishment of a Southwest Benefit Area, a specific geographical area in which development impact fees collected from builders must be spent on transportation projects made necessary by new growth.

A typical development impact fee for a new single-family home would be about $10,220, according the Southwest Infrastructure Plan.

Creation of a Southwest Benefit Area will involve revising boundaries for the existing San Xavier and Avra Valley benefit areas.

Board members also will direct planning staff to look at existing benefit areas for possible amendments to boundaries, needed projects, project costs and changes to existing fees.

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On the Web

Pima County Development Impact Fee Benefit Areas

www.dot.pima.gov/transsys/impactfees

Sunnyside board member says remarks hurt Hispanic U.S. citizens

Dupnik

Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik said he would not apologize for saying last week as many as 40 percent of Sunnyside Unified School District students are illegally in the United States and that much South Side crime is linked to illegal immigration.

The statements led to a letter from 10 politicians, all Democrats, as is Dupnik, demanding the sheriff apologize for his remarks.

Dupnik said his remarks were an effort to point out “reality.”

As far as apologizing for his remarks, Dupnik said, “No. Who am I supposed to apologize to, illegal aliens?”

Dupnik’s remarks hurt many Hispanic U.S. citizens who live on the South, Southwest and West sides of Tucson, said Eva Dong, a member of the board of the Sunnyside Unified School District.

After being told Dupnik would not apologize, Dong said she was not sure an apology would mean anything.

“I think that unless he understands how we felt as legal citizens, living in the community, then I don’t know what the apology would mean,” she said.

Dong would like an apology from the sheriff, “but only if he understands how his words affected us.”

Dong drew comfort from Dupnik’s remarks that deputies’ priority isn’t enforcing immigration laws.

“As a community, we have always felt we need to work with police, with deputies,” Dong said.

Regarding illegal immigrants in Sunnyside schools, Dupnik said he was given the 40 percent figure by “a number of people, including teachers and others” in the school district.

As for crime on the South, Southwest and West sides of the city, Dupnik would not say how he knows much of it stems from illegal immigration, saying only, “You know that’s true.”

Dupnik said a number of “magnets” bring illegal immigrants to the United States, including citizenship for children born here, free medical services, social services and a free education.

“We need to mitigate as many of those magnets as we can,” he said.

Dupnik said he first made the immigration remarks last month at a hearing on border violence held by the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Last week’s news conference, he said, was an attempt to clarify those remarks.

Dupnik said his remarks were not intended to be anti-Hispanic or to show any prejudice against Hispanics.

The sheriff long has said his deputies would not enforce immigration laws, which he said is a federal responsibility.

He has said the Pima County Sheriff’s Department has neither the resources nor the interest to enforce federal law.

Dupnik also has said it’s more important to foster trust in the immigrant community so it’s more likely they will report crimes as opposed to a community reluctant to call law officers out of fear of deportation.

Dupnik last week suggested challenging a U.S. Supreme Court decision that forbids schools from checking the citizenship of students, citing improved border security if the ruling were overturned.

Although almost all of this week’s budget debate split along party lines (Republicans in favor, Democrats opposed), there was one island of tranquility where the warring parties put down their spears and united in a bipartisan rendition of “Kumbaya.”

Bringing us this moment of karmic come-togetherness is freshman Rep. Matt Heinz, D-Tucson. His idea is that the state should reduce by one year the length of time it holds unclaimed property. By doing so, the state could reap a one-time windfall of $40 million to $50 million, he estimates, because it could tap those unclaimed resources a year earlier.

“I know it’s a little gimmicky,” Heinz said in his best aw-shucks voice.

But members of the House Appropriations Committee liked it and adopted it as an amendment. Hey, that’s $40 million less in budget cuts, no small feat for a lawmaker, let alone a freshman.