Tucsonans will be electing a new county treasurer for the first time in nearly 24 years.
Democrats Sami Hamed and Brian Johnson will go toe-to-toe in the primary election on July 30 for a shot to run against Republican Chris Ackerley in November for the position.
The treasurerβs office, responsible for collecting taxes and maintaining financial records for Pima County, had been led by Beth Ford for nearly 24 years until her resignation in April. Ackerley was appointed by the Board of Supervisors to fulfill her role until the end of the year.
Hereβs what you need to know about the Democratic primary election race:
Brian Johnson
Johnson was born and raised in New York and attended college at the University of Vermont and East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania. He has lived in Pima County for 26 years.
Johnson has worked in finance and risk management for five years and in the Assessorβs Office for nine years. He also represented the area on the Arizona State Board of Equalization.
Johnson says that in the last 50 years, the Pima County treasurerβs office has diminished to having the least amount of responsibility possible. He says creating tax rolls and statements has been done by the county finance department instead.
If he wins the position, he says he will bring that responsibility back.
βThe treasurerβs office collects property taxes,β Johnson said. βBut itβs not done that way in Pima County, and it hasnβt been for years.β
Johnson says his top goals are to bring efficiency and transparency to the treasurerβs office. He wants to work with the county administration and Assessorβs Office to institute an integrated data infrastructure so that property tax and other relevant information can be easily maintained and accessible to taxpayers.
βRight now, theyβve got like three different data silos,β Johnson said. βAnd they donβt interact or talk with each other, so itβs difficult to try to get information from one another.β
He would also like to work with the Board of Supervisors to create an investment policy, something he said the county hasnβt had since 1995.
βOur investments (would be) in alignment with the countyβs prosperity initiatives,β Johnson said. βIf we have a Board of Supervisors policy β¦ thereβs accountability not just to the board but to the public.β
Johnson said in a debate on June 8 that structural changes are necessary to change the culture of the treasurerβs office. He said most of the routine accounting and transactional functions are software driven, and that a βcompetent IT unitβ is crucial to maintaining those systems.
Johnson says his experience in finance and risk management sets him apart from Hamed in this race. βSami really has none,β Johnson said. βI donβt think he knows what heβs in for.β
According to the Pima County First Quarter Campaign Finance Report, Johnson loaned himself $2,000 and spent $1,660 on his campaign. The second quarter report is due by July 15.
Sami Hamed
Sami Hamed was born and raised in Tucson. He attended the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (ASDB), Pima Community College and the University of Arizona, where he studied political science and Spanish.
From 2003 to 2009, Hamed served on the Board of Directors of ASDB. He was a congressional aide to Democratic Rep. RaΓΊl Grijalva for over seven years and now sits on the Pima County Merit System Commission & Law Enforcement Council. Hamed also works at the University of Arizona in the athletics department and runs a business as a self-employed notary.
Hamed says his campaign largely focuses on building better customer service and access for the Pima County public and working to prevent tax lien foreclosure auctions.
He says staff in the treasurerβs office needs to reach out to community members when they are struggling, and not the other way around.
βWeβd reach out directly to them with a phone call. βHey, this is the treasurerβs office, we see that you are behind. Whatβs going on?β,β Hamed said. He said staff would then help taxpayers get back into good financial footing by connecting them with government resources to get funding.
Hamed says he also would beef up the IT function and make the website easier to navigate.
βWe can make our office more accessible to the public,β he said.
Hamed says he would work with the Assessorβs Office to have staff visit libraries and attend events to educate the public on what different taxes are and why they are necessary.
He would also work with school districts to create a financial literacy program in economics classes in Pima County high schools, he said. A few high schools would pilot the program in August of 2025, he said.
It would teach students how credit and debit cards work, how credit reports affect you and why theyβre important.
βSome kids get the financial literacy tools early in life, some donβt,β Hamed said. βLetβs create some financial literacy tools that can be used by the students, so they donβt make bad decisions.β
Hamed says his leadership makes him the most qualified candidate for the position.
βMy job is to make sure the work is being done, that weβre following and adhering to the budget given by the Board of Supervisors, and to make sure weβre doing the best job possible for the taxpayers,β he said.
Hamed did not file a first quarter campaign finance report. The second quarter report is due by July 15.