We've been here before, and we'll be here again.
South Tucson needs Pima County to bail it out. This time it's for $1.4 million in delinquent jail costs that the little city simply can't afford. Portions of the bills date back a decade, the Star's Kellie Mejdrich recently reported.
And, of course, Pima County is more than willing to lend South Tucson a hand in this newest time of fiscal trouble. County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said the unpaid bill could be put off for a while and Pima County could give the little city "latitude" with $314,000 in interest.
But why stop there? Supervisor RamΓ³n Valadez, who has South Tucson Mayor Jennifer Eckstrom on staff, has said the county should just waive the whole principal.
"It's really a regional responsibility," he said.
From his lips to Dan Eckstrom's ears. With South Tucson, it's always a regional responsibility.
South Tucson officials say the city shouldn't be held responsible for the entirety of its jail costs because nearly 85 percent of those arrested in the city don't have South Tucson mailing addresses. Pat Benchik, the county's behavioral health administrator, said many of those arrested are homeless who are drawn to South Tucson for services. When Benchik was head of COPE Community Services, he pursued several problematic housing projects in South Tucson. There's always a connection between the county and South Tucson.
"We need to pay our share. But quite frankly, our share is nowhere even near what we're being charged," South Tucson City Manager Enrique Serna told Mejdrich. "We can't afford to let this fiscal obligation continue because it threatens our viability as a city."
Serna used to work for Pima County.
This isn't exactly a new issue. Back in 2009, the Star reported that South Tucson owed $500,000 for its delinquent jail bills. Officials then were unwilling to come up with a payment plan. South Tucson accumulated the debt even though the county twice bought property from the city and wrote down the debt - by $555,000 in 2000 and again by another $220,000 in 2008, Star archives show.
With its strong ties to the county, South Tucson always knows it has a backstop for bills it can't afford. That's what happened back in 2007 when South Tucson suddenly needed $500,000 to pay for two pocket parks the city built even though it couldn't afford them.
Back in 2003, the county gave South Tucson $150,000 in bond funds to build a small park and a community garden. But over the next four years it spent closer to $650,000 on two small parks. When the parks were 95 percent complete, South Tucson came to the county with hat in hand. The county agreed to pay for those parks.
That's just the South Tucson way.
Serna said if the jail bill goes unpaid, the viability of the city is threatened. Would that really be such a bad thing? Should a city really exist if it consistently can't afford to pay its bills?
This would be an opportune time for county officials to show South Tucson that it shouldn't enter into agreements it can't afford. At the very least, spare us the pretense that South Tucson ever had any intention of paying its jail bill. But we imagine the region's taxpayers will just pick up the tab, and leaders will keep pretending that South Tucson can stand on its own. It's politics as usual at Rigo's.
Arizona Daily Star
