TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — State lawmakers are ready to kill Tucson’s Rio Nuevo downtown development organization by deleting it from the new state budget. Now Governor Katie Hobbs is telling KGUN9 she’s ready to protect Rio Nuevo from cuts.
The Indian Trading post in downtown Tucson dates back to 1897. The work that has it enveloped in scaffolds right now is to make it an asset for Tucson’s modern downtown. That work is underwritten by the Rio Nuevo Downtown Development District but state lawmakers are ready to kill Rio Nuevo by deleting it from the state budget. Now Governor Hobbs says she’s ready to dig in to keep Rio Nuevo alive.
Here’s an example of how Rio Nuevo works.
It provided incentives and backing that convinced a developer to work on turning the vacant lot at 75 E. Broadway into Tucson Inn and Marketplace—a mix of hotel and retail.
Over 14 years, Rio Nuevo has helped revive downtown. It collects a share of sales tax from downtown and part of Broadway, and uses the money to stimulate business that brings in more sales tax.
But state lawmakers looking for ways to tighten the budget want to delete 19 million dollars for Rio Nuevo. That would delete Rio Nuevo and stop its projects.
Republican State Senator John Kavanaugh says he supports economic development but money’s tight so Rio Nuevo has to go.
“The question is, who should fund it? And you know, the people all over the state funded a development district in Tucson, and did it for a long time, but now we need the money, so we've decided to terminate that.”
Rio Nuevo Chair Fletcher McCusker says Rio Nuevo doesn’t cost money, it makes money. He says that 19 million is a share of taxes that would not exist without Rio Nuevo projects.
“It's our portion of the sales tax that we create, you know. And 10 years ago, that amount was zero. It's now approaching $60 million a year.”
When Governor Hobbs came to Tucson to open a new National Guard facility, KGUN9 had a one on one chance to ask her about Rio Nuevo. She says Republicans are trying to push through a budget without negotiating anything.
The Governor says lawmakers need to meet her at the negotiating table— and killing Rio Nuevo will not be on that table.
“Tucson is such an important part of our state, our state's economy, and this is a tool that's critical for Tucson and I think that means it's important for the state, and we're going to make sure that they know that this isn't something I'm going to support.”
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
