Coconino County elected officials and leadership visited Washington D.C. to attend the National Association of Counties (NACo) Annual Legislative Conference, as well as visit with key members of Arizona’s Congressional delegation and Federal partners.
The goals of the visits to Capitol Hill were to discuss issues of importance to Coconino County and collaborate directly with our representatives from both sides of the aisle to drive policy at the Federal level.
Topics included:
- Ensuring that all disaster relief reimbursements are received so flood control projects can be completed before the monsoon begins.
- Securing US Department of Transportation funding to repair and improve Highway 89, which closed 13 times in Summer 2023 and is the main corridor to the Grand Canyon for visitors and, to schools, jobs and healthcare for residents.
- Seeing that forest restoration funding agreements can move forward so the Bill Williams Mountain Steep Slope Project and Upper Rio de Flag Watershed Restoration Project can begin.
- Supporting a fully funded and permanently authorized Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program, which offsets local costs of providing services on federal land to agencies like Coconino County who have large federal land holdings that don’t produce tax revenues.
- Reauthorizing and fully funding Secure Rural Schools (SRS), which supports counties and school districts affected by reduced timber harvests on federal lands due to national policies.
In the past, these meetings have yielded the Federal funds necessary to complete essential flood mitigation, highway repair, infrastructure improvements, and forest restoration. For more information about Coconino County’s Federal legislative priorities, go to https://www.coconino.az.gov/2242/Federal-Agenda.
The NACo Legislative Conference brings together nearly 2,000 elected and appointed county officials to focus on federal policy issues that impact counties and our residents. Steering committees meet throughout the conference to discuss, vote on, and adopt resolutions that represent all counties through NACo. Coconino County elected officials are members of the NACo Rural Action Caucus, Public Lands Steering Committee, Transportation Policy Steering Committee, Western Intestate Region Board of Directors, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Steering Committee, Human Services and Education Steering Committee, Finance, Pension, and Intergovernmental Affairs Steering Committee and Community, Economic and Workforce Development Steering Committee.