Ward 1 candidates at odds on city budget priorities

City Council member Regina Romero, facing a Republican challenger for the first time, says the city made it through a budget crisis but has more work to do on economic development.

Democrat Romero, seeking a third term on the Tucson City Council, is challenged by Republican Bill Hunt, a senior principal engineer at Raytheon Missile Systems.

In largely Democratic Ward 1, this is the first time Romero has faced a Republican challenger. She easily defeated Green party candidate Beryl Baker in 2007 and 2011.

Romero likes to list some history she’s made on the council — first woman elected to the Ward 1 council job, first Latina on the council, first “pregnant lady” on the council. She has experience but also the “enthusiasm and energy” to continue serving as council member, she said.

Hunt portrays himself as a problem solver.

He said voters should ask themselves whether they’re happy with that they see in the city. From a citizen perspective, Hunt said, he thinks there may be a better way to do things.

Romero’s time on the council has been focused on addressing the budget crisis brought on by the recession that began in December 2007, a month after she was elected.

The structural deficits were unbelievable, she said — up to $55 million in one fiscal year she recalls and the city was rapidly losing revenue.

“We had to take care of an urgent, bleeding patient in the emergency room,” Romero said.

The council cut spending in all city departments by more than 30 percent.

The council also approved furloughs and cut staff by attrition, and paid for some police and fire jobs using grant money but rejected layoffs as an option, Romero said.

Romero prioritized spending on public safety, parks and children, she told members of the Democratic Nucleus Club in July.

Hunt said he would have focused on public safety and infrastructure.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

The council used budget gimmicks to avoid solving a spending problem driven by ballooning public-safety pension costs, he said.

The council should focus on increasing the tax base, not the tax rate, Hunt said. The council also could eliminate duplicate city services, he said, but he couldn’t provide an example.

Romero said she is the one with experience finding and addressing inefficiencies.

The city privatized the management of the Tucson Convention Center and saw an increase in profits and a decrease in the general fund subsidy, she said.

Hunt said the budget solution is growing the economy, which will in turn grow tax revenue.

“What he says, we’re already doing,” Romero said.

She proposed the Primary Jobs Incentive program, in effect for four years. The program has helped create 3,000 jobs that pay above-average wages and bring new capital investment to the city, Romero said.

Hunt said he doesn’t know about the incentive programs and says businesses probably don’t either. It would be better to improve the business environment by changing the culture at the city’s development services department, with staff with friendly and helpful attitudes and who are willing to streamline the business permit processes.

Romero agreed more work is needed in development services but said the city has taken steps to streamline and expedite processes.

Moving forward, Romero said she would support a dedicated funding source for transit or public safety, with specifics to be decided through “a community conversation.”

Hunt said he would oppose a tax hike. The city could make transit less costly by cutting bus frequencies on some routes and raising fares.

He also opposes borrowing money for road maintenance projects.