Jay Tolkoff, a retired businessman and longtime Tucson resident, is running for the Ward 6 City Council seat to overhaul what he sees as the city’s broken approach to public safety, homelessness and budgeting.

Frustrated by personal experiences with crime and what he describes as mismanaged resources, Tolkoff says Tucson needs accountability, not excuses, and he's positioning himself as the candidate to deliver it.

Tolkoff has lived in Tucson for more than 50 years, attending the University of Arizona and working at one of the first Domino’s Pizza locations in the city. He's the former owner of PJ Subs, which closed in 2022 due to financial losses during the pandemic.

He views Tucson as a city with immense potential, boasting scenic beauty and ideal geography, but said rising crime and homelessness are driving residents and investors away. He cites his own experience, claiming Tucson police once described his home as the most frequently burglarized in the city.

“My house was burglarized 26 times in 11 years while I was busy working,” he told Tucson Spotlight. “They were stealing toilet paper, cases of wine, food out of the refrigerator … basically, I could tell it was people that were surviving.”

He believes the city's efforts to address homelessness are insufficient, saying Tucson has spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” over the past five years without seeing significant results. Tolkoff criticized the City Council and staff, saying they consistently request more funding while failing to fulfill their elected responsibilities.

“If you throw something on a fire, and it makes the fire bigger, you don't keep putting more of it on there,” he said.

Tolkoff said he focuses on addressing root causes rather than just treating symptoms — a principle he applies across all his policies, especially when tackling homelessness.

“Shouldn’t we be dealing with mental health problems, rather than just saying, ‘Put a roof over your head and do nothing else?’” he asked, adding that while he understands the struggles faced by people experiencing homelessness, the city also needs to show equal concern for those who are being harmed by their actions. “At some point or another, we have to look at the people that really don't want to participate and … not just enable them to keep doing what they're doing. It’s a little hardcore, a little tough love, but what we’re doing ain’t working.”

If elected, Tolkoff said he’ll tackle what he perceives as the city’s poor budgeting and resource allocation. He recalled seeing someone lying in the road after falling off a skateboard and calling 911, only to be placed on hold for an hour and a half. Although the person wasn’t hurt, the incident highlighted for Tolkoff what he sees as serious mismanagement that he hopes to fix.

“That’s inexcusable. There is absolutely no excuse for that kind of stuff,” he said. “My thoughts are, I want to take my accounting, budgeting and finance background and really dig deep into: Where is all this money going?”

Tolkoff criticized the current City Council for what he called a lack of accountability and efficiency, claiming that council members often delegate tasks to inexperienced staff, which hinders effective execution.

With his background in business, Tolkoff believes he can work more collaboratively to determine the true cost of city initiatives, rather than relying on what he sees as inflated or unrealistic budget estimates.

He also wants to revisit the current income of the mayor and City Council. In November 2023, voters approved Proposition 413, raising the annual salaries for Tucson’s mayor and council members to $95,750 and $76,000, respectively.

Tolkoff proposes tying the mayor and council’s salaries to Tucson’s median income, a system he says would “incentivize” elected officials to focus more on economic growth.

“When the mayor is making more money than the mayor of Phoenix, something’s wrong,” he said.

In April, a voter-approved raise boosted Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego’s annual salary from $88,000 to $103,840, while council members’ salaries rose to $77,000.

Tolkoff also has a problem with the current way ward elections are run, and that someone outside his community can vote for who represents him.

In Tucson, council members are nominated by the voters from the ward they wish to represent in the primary election, but they're ultimately elected to the city council at-large in the general election. The mayor is elected by the voters at-large.

“We have a Jim Crow era style of voting for people, and it needs to be changed. It should be representative of the people,” he said.

Tolkoff is the only Republican in the Ward 6 City Council race, a strategic choice, he said, to increase his chances of making it through the primary.

“The goal was to get into office. I talked to a friend of mine who works for a Democrat elected official in government here, and he said, ‘Don’t waste your time. You’ll never get past the primary,’” he said.

He acknowledged that being a Republican in a predominantly Democratic city can carry a stigma but stressed that national politics shouldn’t influence local government.

“Donald Trump’s got nothing to do with the City Council,” Tolkoff said.

He emphasized that he is simply someone who wants to improve his community and have the best chance at winning.

“I’m ethical. I’ve got good morals, not in this for the money. I have no desire to move out of city government,” he said. “I’m a regular guy.”

Emma LaPointe is a journalism, political science and German Studies major at the University of Arizona and Tucson Spotlight intern. Contact her at emma.m.lapointe@gmail.com.

Tucson Spotlight is a community-based newsroom that provides paid opportunities for students and rising journalists in Southern Arizona. Please consider supporting our work with a tax-deductible donation.