By Rachel Leingang | Arizona Capitol Times
Using money saved in part when the Arizona Corporation Commission got rid of an ethics attorney, the agency is now giving extra money to some commissioners to lead workshops on special issues.
And the idea of budgeting additional money for newly created committees, which the commission did not have before, led Commissioner Bob Burns to dissent from the commission’s budget request, a rare move meant to register his discontent with the program.
The committees were created by Chairman Tom Forese in March and doled out to Commissioners Andy Tobin, Boyd Dunn and Doug Little. Burns does not have a committee, and neither does Forese.
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Each committee will get an additional $20,000 to spend on things like research, staffing or travel needs, said commission spokeswoman Holly Ward. The committees are considered a “pilot program” for budgeting purposes, and the amount will not exceed $100,000 for next fiscal year, she said.
There was also some money spent this year for the committees, she said, including an intern for Tobin’s water committee and some travel costs to go to rural areas, also for the water committee.
