He might be the lone Republican on the Pima County Board of Supervisors, but District 4’s Steve Christy says he’s comfortable in that position and is ready for a third term.

First he’ll have to beat Democratic challenger Vanessa Bechtol, who says District 4 constituents are ready for a change.

But Christy told Tucson Spotlight that’s not what he’s hearing, adding that he believes his “diversity of thought” has proven to be an invaluable asset to the community and the board of supervisors.

“We don’t have many things we agree on, that’s for sure. But I think it’s very important that another point of view be put forward,” he said. “I love the debate. And in District 4, there are a lot of people who believe what I believe and want to hear what I have to say..”

Since taking office at the start of 2017, Christy said his office has led, organized or attended more than 1,300 meetings and addressed more than 1,100 constituent concerns, including one that he considers his biggest success: prioritizing road repairs in unincorporated Pima county.

“When I first took office in 2017, I was inundated daily with complaints about the roads,” he said, adding that in the time since, the county has repaired 300 miles of roads in District 4. “Folks throughout the unincorporated areas have made it very clear that they appreciate the fact that we’re repairing the roads.”

Christy is also proud of his work during the pandemic, when he said he pointed out the devastation of the proclamations issued by the health department and approved by supervisors.

“They kept the big box stores open, but put the mom and pop shops out of business. I don’t think we’ll ever recover,” he said. “It was a long-minded and misguided effort to address the pandemic that did more harm to the economy, the community, to families and to kids in schools.”

Christy said that as the one supervisor with experience working in the private sector, he took his role seriously during the pandemic and tried to advocate for business owners responsible for paying employees and attracting customers.

And the fallout from those policies is far from over and has extended beyond just the private sector, he said.

“The vaccine mandates (the county was) enforcing on law enforcement and corrections officials, that really created an area that we’re still trying to recover from,” he said, pointing to the understaffed sheriff’s department.

Christy said that while he’ll continue to prioritize road repairs in his third term and looks forward to making sure that at the end of the 10-year program, the county has kept its promise to taxpayers.

But he’s also looking to focus on new issues, including the rising costs of goods and services and the impact on local consumers.

“(It’s) so widespread, and that’s causing a great deal of consternation to all families,” he said. “Nobody likes to deal with issues of rising costs\.” 

He’s also concerned about property taxes, which he said can be just as devastating as inflation.

“There are a lot of retirees in District 4, and they put their life savings into certain assets that were originally designed to be something they could live off of for their remaining years. Now, they’re forced to dip into assets to pay for inflationary costs,” Christy said. “People work their whole lives to buy a home and own it free and clear, then every year or two, they get stuck with an increase in their property taxes.”

Christy said that if he’s reelected, he’ll do everything he can to at least keep property taxes revenue neutral.

“My colleagues on the board have made it clear that they think it’s important to raise property taxes and continue with an agenda of social services that they feel are more compelling than letting folks enjoy the labor of their own lives,” he said, adding that he thinks he’s the one thing standing in the way of supervisors enacting the first-ever county-wide sales tax.

Christy said that since the vote has to be unanimous, he’ll continue to hold his position and fight against such a tax.

He said he’s also prepared to fight for homeowners in District 4, who are facing skyrocketing insurance premiums in areas like Mount Lemmon, the Catalinas, Green Valley and even Vail.

He pointed towards the Firewise USA Program, a series of regulations and actions homeowners can take to mitigate fire issues, that he’s promoted throughout District 4.

There are 154 Firewise USA recognized communities across the state, and dozens in Pima County.

“It can be very effective in preventing fire catastrophes,” he said. “Hopefully, this will get the attention of the insurance carriers and they’ll know how sensitive homeowners are and that they want to get adequate coverage and premiums that don’t take over their life-savings.”

Challenger Bechtol previously pointed to Christy’s refusal to certify the 2020 and 2022 elections as a point of concern for voters. But Christy said he doesn’t see that being an issue this year, and he feels “very good” about the primaries.

“I did not hear … about irregularities that I have heard about in past elections,” he said. “With the heightened awareness of election integrity, and in listening to the county elections director, I have  very good hopes and extreme desires that this will be a smooth election and there won't be any kind of controversies.”

Caitlin Schmidt is Editor and Publisher of Tucson Spotlight. She previously worked for the Arizona Daily Star and has been reporting on Southern Arizona for a decade. Contact her at caitlin@tucsonspotlight.org.

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