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Pima County and city task force propose $8 million annual ROSAC spending and push for sobering center planning
Summary
Pima County and the city of Tucson are coordinating regional spending of opioid settlement funds through ROSAC and proposed a multi‑year, $8 million annual tranche to expand prevention, peer navigation, wraparound supports and to create a sobering-center implementation plan.
Pima County Public Health Director Dr. Teresa Cullen briefed the mayor and council on regional planning for opioid-settlement funds and a new Regional Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee (ROSAC) that represents Pima County, the City of Tucson, South Tucson and Marana.
Dr. Cullen said the regional group consolidated local settlement receipts with the goal of coordinating investments across prevention, treatment, recovery supports and harm reduction. ROSAC identified six priority categories through a rubric that rated public-health impact, equity, evidence and sustainability: youth prevention, peer navigators, transitional wraparound supports, law‑enforcement co-response, innovation pilots and planning for a sobering center. The group has used the guidance that the settlement permits spending in 12 broad categories and now expects a finite total payout (estimates have come down from initial optimistic totals to an $80–$85 million range). ROSAC recommended a proposed spending tranche of roughly $8 million per year — a planning figure that represents a three‑year allocation (the group is emphasizing multi‑year awards rather than single-year pilots).
Dr. Cullen emphasized the group’s preference for multi‑year funding for programs such as peer navigation and transitional supports, including wraparound services for people initiating treatment: “If you’re in outpatient care that doesn’t pay for housing, transportation and food, people drop out; those wraparound supports matter.” ROSAC also set aside funds to develop an implementation plan to test a sobering center — a supervised facility offering withdrawal management, peer navigation and short-term stabilization — and committed to an evaluation framework and common metrics for measuring outcomes (possible metrics include 9-1-1 overdose response calls, linkage to treatment, and reduced repeat overdose events).
Council members repeatedly pressed for urgency on a sobering center and asked the county to return to mayor and council with expedited cost estimates and an implementation plan; several councilmembers voted to ask ROSAC and the Board of Supervisors to reassess funding decisions and prioritize accelerating sobering-center planning and startup. Chief Kasmar, Assistant City Manager Morales and Health Department staff discussed existing deflection and transition projects (for example, the “transition center” connected to court services) and underscored that more coordinated state, county and city investment would be required to scale capacity and ensure appropriate clinical staffing.
Dr. Cullen said ROSAC will issue a single, comprehensive RFP and evaluate applications against agreed criteria; spending decisions will be based on the evaluation and the county’s procurement process. She emphasized that communities asked for youth prevention as a top priority but also requested permissive, innovation funding so novel ideas can be trialed and measured.
Council members asked for clearer gap analyses and asked the county to return within about 30 days with additional cost estimates and a focused plan for moving sobering‑center work from study to pilot implementation.
