Arizona Takes Back Responsibility Of Paying For Juvenile Corrections From Most Counties
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Lauren Gilger/KJZZ
An empty yard at the Pinal County Juvenile Justice Center.
During the Great Recession, state revenues fell dramatically, and as lawmakers were cutting the state budget, they passed off some costs to Arizona’s 15 counties.
Between the 2008 and 2020 fiscal years, counties paid more than $500 million to areas the state had been paying for, including transportation projects and the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections.
But this year, lawmakers took back the responsibility of paying for that agency from all but the state’s two biggest counties: Maricopa and Pima.
To talk about this change, The Show reached out to Bill Gates, chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, and Jason Whiting, vice chairman of the Navajo County Board of Supervisors.
