The new half-cent sales tax dropped like a bombshell during a heated South Tucson City Council meeting, in which residents shouted at the city staff and elected officials.
John Vidaurri, the recently hired city manager — the fourth person in the last five years to hold the post — was the target of ire among many at the meeting, mostly for his $80,000-a-year salary, when he made the pronouncement: the 1-square-mile city on Tucson’s south side is running on borrowed time.
“A half-cent sales tax increase will keep this thing going for three years,” Vidaurri said. “Within three years we’re going to be bankrupt and we are going to be de-incorporated. We have cut services. You have to consider a secondary property tax to keep the city going. That’s the bottom line.”
In reality, the financial outlook for South Tucson could be worse than Vidaurri said at the meeting.