By Philip Franchine | Green Valley News and Sun
A renewed effort to have Green Valley and Sahuarita leave Pima County and join Santa Cruz County to the south is meeting with mostly negative reaction.
Emmett McLoughlin of Patagonia, a former Tucson City Council member, formed the Santa Cruz County Committee for Quality Jobs about a year ago to explore moving the county line north from Amado to Pima Mine Road.
His “move the line, not the mine” proposal is signed by Don and Patti Woolley and Sue Mayes of the Sahuarita/Green Valley Committee for County Realignment and Economic Development.
McLoughlin says the move would address the economic problems in his county, but he’s not getting much buy-in north or south of the line.
The 54,000 residents of Green Valley/Sahuarita, their property, and the mines would bring in so much assessed valuation that property tax rates would drop in the expanded Santa Cruz County, McLoughlin said, though local officials say that’s not the case.
