County power Extensive, but limited
Editor’s Note: This story is one is a series looking at local government, as well as how Yuma County’s cities and towns have grown and changed historically.
Arizona state law requires counties to provide many services, while others are made “optional.” At the same time, one of the “mandatory” services makes it appear the county has more power than it does.
One of the things the county is responsible for is maintaining a treasury and collecting all property taxes for every political subdivision within it: cities, towns, county- and city-created improvement districts, school districts, irrigation districts, etc.
So residents get just one bill. “When they get the bill, they get the bill from the county, so they’re going to call us,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Tony Reyes said.
Those who make the call quickly learn that the county didn’t set the rates for most of the entities spelled out on their bill.
But the county is responsible by statute for many of the countywide services they are accustomed to: superior and justice courts, detention and probation, elections and voter registration, and several healthrelated functions including indigent and mental health care, immunization and disease control.
The county is also required to enforce the law in unincorporated areas, which it does through the sheriff’s department. The county must provide road maintenance, but building new roads is optional. “I don’t know who else they expect to take care of new road construction,” Deputy County Administrator Paul Melcher said. And the state law does not provide any real way for counties to get involved in providing fire protection for rural areas, he said. “While the city has the provisions to provide fire and ambulance service, in the county areas that’s all done by districts or volunteer (departments).”
Another instance is the state mandate that counties set up a facility or contract with a facility to impound stray dogs, but the impounding of cats is optional. Yuma County contracts with the Humane Society of Yuma for kenneling dogs, but not for cats.
“Since I’ve been here, since 2008, never have I heard anyone say we should start looking at dealing with cats the same way (we do) with dogs,” Melcher said, adding that he doesn’t recall cats every being considered a real threat for spreading rabies or fleas.
New roads, stray cat care not always required
But as a rule, the county has been involved to some degree with all of the “options” the state gives for providing services. “In a very limited capacity or for some, like libraries, we’re really gung-ho,” Melcher said.
The Yuma County Library District was formed by the Board of Supervisors in 1987, and easily survived a voter referendum the following year. Voters approved a major expansion through a $53.7 million bond election in 2005. It serves as the library system for municipalities as well as unincorporated areas, and it has eight locations.
The county contracts with other entities to provide many of the optional services, such as Arizona@ Work for job development and Greater Yuma Economic Development Foundation for economic development.
It hasn’t stayed completely out of trash collection, though most of it is left to the private sector. “We have the transfer site, so while we don’t actively go out resident-to-resident or business-to-business to collect waste, we do offer the transfer sites for people to come in and to dump.”
The issue of county parks has popped up again this year as residents and officials renew calls for a public space in the Foothills area. The county dissolved its parks department in the 1980s and reestablished it in 1997, but it never really took hold.
In recent years the county has used federal Community Development Block Grants to develop or rehabilitate three parks, taking no role or a minimal role in maintenance.
Melcher said, “I think parks is kind of sporadic; you’ll hear some discussion about parks and then it tails off. So there’s not really a consistent person or group beating the drum for ‘the county needs more parks.’ I think it comes and goes as people say ‘hey look, can we develop a park here?’ It’s more focused on certain areas than an overall, general ‘the county needs a parks system.’”
Reyes, who was mayor of San Luis before becoming a county supervisor in 1998, said cities may be given more responsibilities, but the state also gives them more tools to come up with the money to provide them.
“Cities can do basically anything to solve a problem, while counties are very regulated,” he said.
He said the county needs state approval before levying any taxes, which puts a brake on what actions can be taken on the optional services.
“We’re not mandated to provide those types of services, and they don’t give us the funds to do it.” he said.