The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
William Beard
The voters of Pima County deserve accountability, and the only way to get it is to reject the RTA Next plan.
For nearly two decades, the City of Tucson has refused to provide a clear, full accounting of the failures associated with the Regional Transit Authority’s transportation projects voters approved in 2006. Instead, the city has followed a familiar pattern of failure: delayed projects, rising costs, and countywide taxpayers being expected to accept the mismanagement. That record alone should give voters pause before approving a new plan.
Public officials owe the public honesty and transparency in their decision-making. Tucson’s leaders have provided neither, instead citing the Great Recession from over 15 years ago to explain delays while remaining largely silent about the financial consequences borne not only by the city, but by taxpayers across Pima County.
The city has clearly failed the competency test, most visibly in its handling of the Downtown Links project. Approved as a defined transportation project with clear expectations, it devolved into a prolonged exercise in missed deadlines, shifting designs, and escalating costs managed reactively rather than controlled at the outset. Planning assumptions changed midstream, timelines slipped repeatedly, and budget discipline gave way to ad hoc fixes that relied on regional subsidies rather than internal correction. In the end, Tucson burned through millions of taxpayer dollars on just 1.3 miles of roadway between Broadway and St. Mary’s.
The original RTA promised 35 projects, including 20 of them wholly or partly within the City of Tucson. Four Tucson projects were never completed and have now been rolled into the proposed 2026 RTA Next plan. Of the projects that have been deemed to be finished, several are missing lanes after years of delay, while others fell short of what voters were originally promised. Now, voters are being asked to approve a sequel without a full reckoning of how the first commitment fell short.
Transparency and accountability are not optional when taxpayer dollars are at stake. Yet, Tucson has repeatedly done the opposite: exceeding voter-approved budgets and forcing county taxpayers to make up the difference, disregarding state law on cost overruns, ignoring repeated requests from state auditors for basic financial accountability, and imposing countywide subsidies for free transit fares with little meaningful oversight.
All partners to the 2006 RTA plan accepted responsibility for delivering the projects voters approved. That was the bargain struck with the public. Today, Tucson’s leaders are asking voters to ignore the past and trust them again.
We shouldn’t. Vote No and support taxpayer accountability.
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