Mine closure

mode, about 250 employees will remain at the site to run those operations and in other various capacities.”

With the Sierrita mine providing Pima County $255 million in economic benefit, according to a 2014 analysis performed by the L. William Seidman Research Institute at Arizona State University, the 50,000 people in the immediate area are directly affected.

The Town Council created the “Blueprint for Economic Growth and Prosperity” last year. It lists the statistics of the town’s employment demographics and creates a realistic analysis of the town’s business climate. It reviewed the town’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Of the 3,181 Sahuarita residents employed in the town, 21 percent are in the mining industry, the majority employed at the Asarco Mission Mine. Two other industries, retail and food services, account for 45 percent of resident employers, leaving very little diversity in the Sahuarita economy.

Factoring residents who work outside the town into the equation for a total of 10,285 people, the three key areas of employment become sales, administrative and management occupations accounting for 33 percent of jobs.

The Town Council hopes to expand that by making use of key industries: information and communications technology, tourism and hospitality, aerospace and defense, and small-business entrepreneurship. This is to ensure that the town doesn’t experience whiplash from a struggling mining economy.

For now, Sahuarita Finance Director A.C. Marriotti said he does not believe the negative impacts to the town will be significant because the town’s main revenue streams are sales tax and state-shared revenues.

“Spending on luxury items is usually the first thing to get cut. Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case may be, the town does not have too much in the way of luxury, high-end retail,” Marriotti said.

While the town does not rely on property taxes for revenue, Marriotti pointed out that another group within the town does: the Sahuarita Unified School District.

As copper prices dip, Superintendent Manuel Valenzuela fully expects the mine to decrease in value and thus decrease the amount of taxes generated for the district.

The district has doubled to more than 6,000 students in the last 11 years. It also has had capital spending cut by 85 percent just six years ago. In addition, it had a recent bond issue for a new school rejected and a 14 percent budget override rejected.

The decrease in tax revenue is not a welcome sight. The company has given donations and grants to the district, including $500,000 to the National Math and Science Initiatives to help double the number of students in advancedplacement classes, but Valenzuela said it is not just the money that will be missed.

“Their corporate philosophy and culture is engaged in community engagement. They’ve been a regular part of our community, not just through their dollars but through their employees as well,” Valenzuela said.

According to the superintendent, the mine’s employees volunteer throughout the community and at the schools, including athletic and fundraising events, so the district will now have to find a way to replace missing funds and missing volunteers.