Huckelberry predicts county will grow by 500,000 in 10 years

TUCSON — Pima County’s unincorporated areas — including Green Valley — will increase by more than half a million in population in the next decade, said County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry, but added that the county doesn’t get state funding breaks that the cities and towns enjoy.

Huckelberry also said if the people living in unincorporated Pima County areas constituted a city, it would be Arizona’s fourth or fifth largest.

In an hour-long interview with half a dozen reporters and editors last month, Huckelberry also said it’s still undecided whether the county will proceed with the proposed bond election in November to deal with a host of county needs.

A countywide committee, including Green Valley representation, meets monthly to look at requests for project funding and other bond-related matters.

When the committee started its work, the idea was that bonds worth $750 million would be sold, but the requests for bond revenues now total more than $1.25 billion.

“I get worried. The economy now is not the most robust,” and that raises concerns that voters may not be so inclined to take on additional debt by the county, he said.

“Some say this is a terrible time” for a bond issues, “while others say it’s a good time to help jump start the economy,” he said

But no matter what Huckelberry wants now, a bond sale would first have to be approved by the five-member Pima County Board of Supervisors to be on the ballot, and then the ultimate decision would be by the voters.

Another thing to consider, he said, is how long the November ballot will be.

“Brad Nelson (county elections division director) has said the November ballot will probably be a two-page ballot,” Huckelberry said.

He added, “and bond issues will be at the bottom.”

Counties don’t get the same breaks with funding that cities and towns get for operations.

He said municipalities get state shared revenues, counties don’t. Also Pima is the only one of Arizona’s 15 counties that doesn’t collect a sales tax.

Also on elections, he said 80 percent of the provisional ballots in last month’s presidential preference vote were disqualified.

He said they were cast by independents while only votes by Republicans or Democrats were counted.

“Now the question is,” he said “how do we get the independents back?”

One of the earlier proposals for a bond election was to acquire what’s known as the West Desert Preserve between southwest Green Valley and the Freeport McMoRan copper mine.

But most of the West Desert Preserve land is Arizona State Trust land and law is that it can only be sold to the highest bidder with the proceeds going to education.

At the news conference. Huckelberry voiced concern about overuse of the groundwater.

Studies indicate that the Green Valley aquifer is falling four feet a year.

To get permission to build, developers are required to show they have a 100-year supply of adequate water.

Huckelberry said the developers should show what they have is “wet water,” and not promises of water that may evaporate.

“When developers come to us,” they must demonstrate their plans conform with the Sonoran Desert Conservation plan, meet minimum requirements for water and access to infrastructure—roads, plumbing for fresh water and adequate sewer facilities.

jlamb@gvnews.com | 520-547-9749