A Message From Steve K...04/12/2021

They also announced plans for a tent facility that’ll hold up to 200 “unaccompanied” children. In fact, they’re often not unaccompanied when separated at the border. To be fair, by law, if the minor is traveling with anybody but a parent, they’re deemed to be unaccompanied. I’ve been told by DHS staff at Southwest Key detention facility that more often than not, the kid is eventually reunited with the same person they separated them from. The legal position is based on a concern for trafficking children. In the normal course of things, that’s totally understandable. Having 172,000 people arrive at the border is not the normal course of things. I’ve asked congressional offices if they can look at temporarily amending the policy so we can keep kids with their families. 

In addition, as of the end of last month BP had reported encountering 49 groups that included 100 or more individuals. So, they’re seeing everything from the ones and twos that you often see on the news, to these large groups.  

Also, on our call the feds announced they’re contracting with a security firm (Endeavor) to lease hotels up in the Phoenix area under an $86M contract. The intent of the contract is to bypass the shelters we have managing the situation, place armed guards on each floor and handle it that way. It’s the shelter analog to private prisons. I suggested during our call that they can send us the cash and let us continue handling this in a humane manner. 

We’re still taking donations. The needs are constant and increasing. Travel necessities, hygiene products, small toys for the kids and Walmart/Costco gift cards are needed. We at the Ward 6 office join in thanking the Catholic Community Services staff and city and county workers and volunteers who are managing this renewed situation.  

Email me at steve.kozachik@tucsonaz.gov and we’ll set up a time to meet and receive the donations. I appreciate all of you who’ve been faithfully taking part. 

The reasons areas are seeing upticks in COVID aren’t a mystery. An indoor ‘reopening party’ at a bar in Illinois led to 46 COVID infections, a school closure, and the hospitalization of a resident from a long-term care facility.  In Illinois they started the reopening at the end of January. This event took place in February. There was a maximum capacity for events of 100 – at least 4 of the people at this event had “COVID-like symptoms” on the same day they attended. 

ABC news ran a piece on states in which there are COVID increases, despite increases in vaccinations. Here’s the map they showed. Yes, Arizona is listed, along with over ½ of the country. 

I’ve been tracking the weekly infection data for Pima County over the past month. I’ve added this week’s totals. 

Total new cases -  

March 8th - 14th - 720 

March 15th - 21st - 618 

March 22nd - 28th - 517 

March 29th - April 4th - 688 

April 5th - April 11th - 629 

I get the occasional question from groups about when we’ll be opening up the office again. It’s under discussion. And it’s a function of how the COVID infections continue to trend both locally and regionally.  

The Rt is the infectivity rate. Anything above 1.0 means infected people are passing COVID to others. I’ve also been keeping the Rt trend. Here’s the past month. They’re hovering around 1.0. Mid-March they were all well below that.  

Florida has over 3,500 cases. Michigan is at 2,500. Minnesota is at 1,500 and Georgia just passed 1,000, as did our neighbor Colorado. Below I’ll share some of the parks’ facilities that are reopening. Please keep in mind that we’re not assuming full speed ahead. Masks, distancing, and group size are all a part of the gradual shift in our programming. 

Here’s the CDC link for updates on changes in the variant strain spread:   https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/transmission/variant-cases.html. 

• Catalina Park Splash Pad         925 N. 4th Avenue 
• *NEW* Clements Splash Pad         8155 E Poinciana Dr
• Naida Jane Baker Splash Pad         2536 N. Castro Avenue
• Palo Verde Park Splash Pad         355 S. Mann Avenue  

Two of the public meetings will be held in person. One will be held online. The in-person meetings will take place on Saturday, April 24th from 9am until 11am in Tahoe Park, and on Tuesday evening, April 27th from 4pm until 6pm in La Madera Park. The virtual meeting will be held on Monday, May 3rd from 5:30 until 7pm. The same material will be shown at each meeting, although the input you hear will vary depending on the questions neighbors ask.  

Here are the links to reserve yourself a spot at each meeting. Please take a moment to sign up: 

Tahoe Park (2501 E. Hampton) - https://calendly.com/grantroadmeeting/4-24-21.  

La Madera Park (2700 E. La Madera Drive) - https://calendly.com/grantroadmeeting/4-27-21.  

Virtual meeting – http://bit.ly/GrantRdOpenHouse.  

Differential Water Rates 

In August 2010 the city council adopted our water service area policy. It outlined areas in the valley where we’d be obligated to serve if development took place, and areas in which we’d reserve the discretion as to whether to serve. The map shows in blue our obligated to serve locations. We adopted this as a way of recognizing the realities of climate change, water shortages and the desire to control sprawl. At the time we didn’t hear any complaints about it violating any existing Intergovernmental Agreements we had with any other jurisdiction. 

Last week we began a process in which we’ll look at charging a higher rate for water service for areas that are in unincorporated regions of the valley. None of the bases on which we adopted the obligated to serve policy have changed in the past 11 years. They’ve only become more important considerations. 

There was an intergovernmental agreement in place at the time we adopted that policy that named the city the regional water provider. We still are, and we will be after this differential rate policy is finalized. The issue is rates we charge for areas of the county that are outside city limits. 

Right now, the State collects sales and income taxes that are generated in our region and remits back to us a portion of what they collect. They do it all over the State. The formula used to determine how much is sent back is based on the percent of the area that is incorporated as cities or towns. For Maricopa County, that’s over 90%. For Pima County we’re in the mid 60% range. That means we’re sending tens of millions of dollars to the State, generated here, that we never see again. Keep that in mind as you read on. 

What we did last week was begin the public rate increase process by formally issuing a notice of our intent to raise rates. By law we had to set a maximum amount of that increase. It can be scaled back, or not done at all. We unanimously agreed to set a cap of a 50% water rate differential between what’s paid within the city limits, and what would be paid in unincorporated areas. That’s the same differential rate that’s charged in several other cities in Arizona. We’re the exception to the rule by not charging differently for people who live in unincorporated areas.  

We are already treating water-related revenues differently within Pima County. For example, the city doesn’t receive back from the county any credits for wastewater that’s captured, treated, and ends up as effluent for unincorporated areas such as Avra Valley and Corona de Tucson. Those two examples generate around 2,000 acre feet of effluent annually. If we sold credits for that water on the CAP market, it’d generate nearly $1.5M. That amount will increase as the cost p/acre foot increases. It’s not going down. 

Another example of how city residents are already being treated differently than those living outside city limits from a financial perspective is the road repair fund the county set up a couple years ago. They called it Paygo. It’s the county holding property taxes artificially high and using the difference between that level and what it would otherwise be if they didn’t have the Paygo policy in effect to repair roads in unincorporated Pima County. City residents are county residents. We’re paying to fix roads outside the city limits through inflated property tax levels.   

I’d like to see any differential rate we adopt to be tied to our existing tiered water rate structure. We’ve worked hard to establish a rate system that encourages conservation. The less you use, the less you pay. I believe we can incorporate that same concept with a differential rate structure. That’ll be a part of the upcoming public process. 

I don’t believe differential rates are going to lead to a lot of new annexations. But it might result in areas in the county deciding to incorporate and form their own town. In those cases, the differential rates would not apply. For example, Vail residents chose a couple of years ago to stay unincorporated. They’ll pay the differential rate. If they reconsidered that decision, they wouldn’t. And they’d be helping attract some of the State shared tax money that we’re now losing. 

More coming on this in the next couple of months. The conversation generated some heat. For me, it’s not all that controversial. From both an environmental and a financial perspective, it’s a worthwhile topic to wrestle with. 

Last year the voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 207 making adult use of marijuana legal in Arizona. There are a lot of regulations on amounts a person can buy, taxes, where it can be used, and all that. But the State will soon be issuing licenses to sell pot to people 18 years and older for their personal recreational use.  

This is a picture of some of the hassles we’ve had over at the Harvest Dispensary. The state surprised everyone by issuing them a license for the recreational pot well ahead of our having had time to put any new zoning regulations into place. I’ve covered Harvest before. It was a problem the day the State issued the new license. 

Last week we adopted new zoning rules that will open up more options for existing dispensaries. Harvest does not belong in its current location, but based on the prior rules, the site chose them.  

The new set back rules will allow dispensaries to be within 500’ of things such as parks, libraries and treatment facilities. They’ll still need to be no less than 2,000’ from other dispensaries. That will prevent clustering of dispensaries, but it’ll also open up locations for example in strip malls where there’s adequate parking for a place like this. And once the state issues the new recreational use licenses, Harvest may not be the only dispensary looking for a new home. 

I’ve heard the Harvest owners are thinking of staying at Grant and Treat, possibly buying a house nearby and turning that lot into parking. That’d be a rezoning I would not support. And once the Grant Road widening happens in this location, they’ll lose even more of the parking they now have. They need a new and larger home. The zoning changes we just made will help that process along. 

As the State takes steps to make guns more widely available, many of us remain concerned that will result in increased carnage, both with adults, and with our youth. April is child abuse prevention month. That goes hand in hand with the need for common sense gun laws. 

Last week, Chief Magnus released these data related to juvenile deaths in the region last year. Of the total 23 non-medical deaths, 10 of them involved firearms. Seven were homicides, 2 were suicides and one was classified as accidental.  

Mom’s Demand Action has on their website a program called Be Smart. Smart is an acronym for the elements of the program; Secure your weapon, Model responsible behavior, ask your youth questions about how they’re doing, Recognize the role of guns in suicide, and Tell friends about the program. Especially this month.  With new shootings in the news every day, and our State legislature doing what they can to get guns into as many hands as possible, please redouble your efforts to be sure any weapons you have are secured. And be sure the homes your kids visit are doing the same.  

And a special thanks to these two groups who are helping monitor the on-going gem shows. Veterans for Child Rescue and Power over Predators are non-profits that deal with sex trafficking, primarily of youth. Trafficking is an issue in every major city in the nation. And it emerges alongside large events such as bowl games, trade shows – and our gem show. We’re grateful to groups such as this who take the issue of sex trafficking seriously and don’t try to reframe it into some sort of voluntary choice being made by victims. 

Michigan continues to be all red. And there are more hot spots in the southeast, midwest and the northwest. As I mentioned above, much of this is due to the new variants.  

Most of our local schools are now back to hybrid. If you want to track the risk factors guiding that decision, you can find them on the Pima County COVID site with this link:  https://webcms.pima.gov/cms/One.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=568644.  

Here’s our statewide map. I’ve been sharing these weekly for over a year now. In Pima County we’ve now passed 113,600 COVID cases. 

In Pima County we’ve lost over 2,300 friends and loved one’s since this began. When we did the memorial event in Himmel last October, the number was 622. At the time, we planted a flag for each person. Now that field of flags would cover the entire hill we gathered on. 

Please keep focused on getting a vaccine and continuing to practice safe habits. We can see the finish line, but we’re not there yet.   

Pima County Health Department portal:  https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/426baca70718453a9f63a4f85e545d8b 

The national CDC site: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/index.html  

For the NY Times data sets, use this link:    

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/23/upshot/five-ways-to-monitor-coronavirus-outbreak-us.html 

You can find the Harvard data on this site: Harvard Global Health Institute Key Metrics   

The State Department of Health site is at this link: www.azdhs.gov. 

Track the advice on public schools through this link: https://www.azed.gov/communications/2020/03/10/guidance-to-schools-on-covid-19/  You can find all the dashboard information at the “School Reopening Public Health Benchmarks” spot. And here’s the UA daily update link. www.covid.arizona.edu. When it opens, click ‘See Latest Updates’ and it’ll take you to a screen with the updated data.