Tucson makes progress with RTA, breaking monthslong standstill

The Regional Transportation Authority has broken a months-long standstill on the county’s next major transportation plan, creating hope that the embattled program may survive the long running disagreements that still threaten its future.

Since 2006, the RTA has used revenue from a voter-approved sales tax to fund road projects across Pima County. The tax is set to expire in five years but might be renewed if voters approve a new version of the program called RTA Next.

The future initiative would provide billions in transportation funding for the region, fund road work in Tucson for decades and help smaller communities take on projects that they otherwise could not afford.

But discontent among Tucson city officials has stalled the RTA Next process for months.

Tucson officials said the city will withdraw from the RTA — and bring half the county’s voters with them — if they don’t get an equitable say in program decisions. Other RTA members have fiercely opposed the city’s suggested changes and have left little room for compromise.

The tone of the conversation shifted dramatically at a recent meeting, however. Members of the program all agreed to kick-start the RTA Next process following four unanimous votes.

Collaboration between members of the program’s governing body, the RTA Board, has been rare over the past few months. The recent progress has left some stakeholders hopeful for a solution that could keep the city of Tucson in the RTA and keep the program alive at the ballot box.

“I feel more optimistic on the development of an RTA Next plan happening than at any time since taking office 10 months ago,” said Supervisor Rex Scott, who represents Pima County on the RTA Board. “We can do so much more together than any of us can do alone.”

Scott proposed a new plan that could give Tucson one extra representative on the Citizens Advisory Committee, a group of 35 community members who are tasked with developing the plan for RTA Next.

Board members voted to adopt proposed numbers as a guideline rather than a rule, however. The move was intended to allow smaller communities to have more advisory committee members and create flexibility if the number of committee applicants falls short for any one jurisdiction.

Despite that caveat, Scott’s plan still has potential to address one of Tucson’s complaints: It makes it more likely that the city will have a level of representation on the advisory committee that is on par with its large population and may give the city more say in the RTA Next planning process.

“Not only would we ensure representation of three jurisdictions that are not currently represented on the CAC — South Tucson, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and the Tohono O’odham Nation — we also could get to the point with representatives from the city of Tucson that would make them more representative of the population,” Scott said.

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero won another victory at the meeting that will increase “diversity of thought” and “diversity of experience” in the RTA Next planning committee.

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She made a motion to consider geographic, economic and demographic diversity when selecting new advisory committee members. Her measure also included diversity in applicants’ preferred modes of transportation, such as biking or busing, which is something Tucsonans have said is a priority in the city.

Romero cited statistics that showed the current CAC does not necessarily reflect regional community. For example, she said only 23% of the current committee members are women despite more than half of the county’s population being female.

The same is true for Latinos who are 39% of the county’s population but make up less than one-tenth of the current advisory committee, according to Romero.

“That is not acceptable,” she said. “The CAC is not representative of the demographics of the region. As you deliberate to select, we have to make sure that we have a representation of what our region is.”

The motion received initial pushback from some RTA board members who were concerned about prioritizing ethnicity and gender over transportation qualifications or other selection criteria.

Romero clarified that candidates would be qualified regardless, and that demographic consideration was one piece of her motion to boost representation more generally.

Board members voted unanimously to approve Romero’s motion following a lengthy discussion. Two more votes were also passed: One formed a panel to select the CAC members using the agreed upon criteria, while the other set a January deadline for the new members to be chosen.

The progress will allow in-depth planning for RTA Next to finally begin, creating more opportunities to address Tucson’s concerns before the city’s withdrawal deadline in February.

A fully-formed advisory committee can suggest policies to put aside extra money during RTA Next’s 20-year lifespan, for example. Such a plan could ease Tucson’s concerns about running into another multi-million dollar funding shortage, which has impacted the city’s current RTA projects.

The advisory committee may also be able to roll Tucson’s unfinished projects into RTA Next without taking a chunk out of the city’s future funding, according to Arizona State Transportation Board Member Ted Maxwell.

“Until we get the Citizens Advisory Committee we don’t know what the RTA Next is going to look like,” said Maxwell ahead of the RTA Board votes. “They’ve got the opportunity to propose how to handle the projects that aren’t getting done here into RTA Next without compromising the city’s position or relative amount of the RTA Next funding. They’ve got the opportunity to discuss items such as having additional funds set aside.”

The RTA Board will meet again next month, when the board’s voting structure — another point of contention for the city of Tucson — is expected to be discussed.