Fletcher McCusker: Surviving Arizona’s budget process

Rio Nuevo, Tucson’s downtown redevelopment district, survived an effort to cut or repeal its state funding during Arizona’s latest budget process. The district was created by voters in 1999 and is the state’s only tax increment financing district. It is scheduled to end in 2035.

Chairman Fletcher McCusker said Rio Nuevo’s record helped protect it. The Arizona Auditor General’s Office found that every dollar the district received generated $10 in private sector funding. Since 2012, Rio Nuevo says it has invested about $200 million, helping attract more than $1 billion in private investment, about 80 restaurants and 12 hotels.

The enacted budget requires at least 80% of Rio Nuevo’s spending to go toward projects that generate sales tax. McCusker said the district already exceeds that standard. He said Rio Nuevo also has supported cultural projects, affordable housing and a skate park, although those efforts are not its primary focus.

McCusker pointed to Caterpillar’s mining division relocation and improvements to the Tucson Community Center as major accomplishments. He said the center’s annual attendance grew from about 200,000 people to 1.2 million after Rio Nuevo invested $100 million.

McCusker, a native Tucsonan who is 77, said the budget fight motivated him to continue leading the district. He hopes lawmakers will eventually extend Rio Nuevo’s tax and expand its boundaries to include other blighted areas. The district also plans to recruit its first chief executive officer.