Two fire stations and eight rec centers in Tucson will most likely stay open next fiscal year, after fears of closure mounted earlier this month.
On Tuesday, Tucson City Manager Tim Thomure presented a recommended budget for fiscal year 2027, which begins in July, to city council members. The budget avoids drastic cuts in favor of smaller tweaks officials hope will keep Tucson’s finances stable next year.
“It was a challenging budget, as we expected, but it is, from our perspective, from staff’s perspective, a workable budget,” Thomure said at the meeting.
The new budget seeks to avoid this year’s mistake: overprojecting sales tax revenues that ended up lower than expected, leading to mid-year cost-saving measures.
City staff forecasted those revenues to stay relatively low next year, bringing with it a $16.8 million shortfall between revenues and expenditures.
Earlier this month, Thomure had suggested closing the gap with a slew of cuts including the shuttering of two fire stations and eight recreation centers. Firefighters and union leaders came out in force to that council meeting and several council members balked at the proposed closures.
Now, city officials hope station closures will be avoided thanks to potential funding agreements with the University of Arizona and the state prison system, which are located near the two stations. Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said both entities have received her letters requesting funding.
Meanwhile, parks cuts will be limited to $500,000, primarily through scaled-back maintenance and fewer equipment upgrades. All told, Thomure’s final budget forecasts a razor-thin $300,000 surplus after about $758 million in both revenues and expenditures.
The budget calls for a $2 million reduction in firefighter overtime payments, a $1 million reduction in police overtime and $2 million in savings from slowing hiring in Tucson’s financial department, city attorney’s office, city clerk’s office, city court and city manager’s office.
It anticipates over $2 million in revenues from new fees and predicts $4 million in future revenues from “cost-share agreements for Fire service, changes to Fire fees and charges, and other opportunities.”
The city will hold several budget information sessions before an official public hearing on May 5. The city council typically votes on new budgets in June.
Transit funding questions loom over Tucson’s financial future##
This year’s budget represents only a temporary fix, according to a five-year financial forecast submitted to council members that predicts annual deficits of over $20 million beginning next year. The projected deficits are driven by rising salary and medical insurance costs for city workers and could deplete Tucson’s general fund by 2029.
Meanwhile, the city expects to spend over $60 million each year funding the Sun Tran public transportation system.
While bringing back bus fares — championed by council members Nikki Lee of Ward 4 and Paul Cunningham of Ward 2 — could earn the city up to $8.5 million a year, according to budget estimates, council members disagreed on the exact number due to some riders potentially ditching buses if fares return.
Since its introduction in 2020, fare-free transit has increased Tucson’s transit ridership relative to other Western cities, according to the draft of a city-commissioned study from the University of Arizona.
A suggestion by Lee to run public engagement sessions about reinstating bus fares was voted down by all council members except Cunningham and Ward 5 council member Selina Barajas.
Instead, Romero argued that Tucson pays an unfair amount for the regional transit system compared to neighboring municipalities and the Regional Transportation Authority. A city memo states that Marana and Pima County have not increased their share of transit funding on par with inflation in recent years, while Tucson has gone above that benchmark.
“I think that is unjust and inequitable,” Romero said.
The RTA pays for a wide range of both road and transit projects through a countywide sales tax. It is not a public transit authority, like Valley Metro in Maricopa County. Critics of the RTA funding system say that the absence of a dedicated public transit authority in Pima County causes Tucson to subsidize transit from its budget at unusually high rates. Romero expressed interest in creating a public transit authority after the success of the RTA Next election in March.
On Tuesday, the mayor and council directed city staff to work with the RTA to develop a strategy to bring down the city’s share of public transit funding, including by asking the RTA and neighboring towns to pick up more of the tab.
Note: this story was updated to correct the vote tally for council member Nikki Lee's transit fares motion.
