One Year of the Arizona Special Districts Alliance – Looking Forward to the Next!

The Arizona Special Districts Alliance is celebrating its first anniversary! With this milestone, we are looking back at the year’s highlights, which include successful engagement with members of our congressional delegation, strengthened district–county relationships, and the delivery of educational resources directly to districts in their communities.

We also want to express our gratitude to our 20 special district members and our supporting organizations.

Preferred professionals and resources available for our membership:

Cooper & Rueter, LLP

Western Alliance Bank

Special District Strategies

AZ Districts Solutions

Municipal Accounts& Consulting, L.P.

Looking ahead, ASDA’s 2026 programming will build on the strong foundation our members helped establish this year. The Alliance plans to coordinate additional roundtables with state and federal legislators, host local events to connect districts on hazard mitigation and grant opportunities, expand governance education resources, and organize the first-ever “Districts Day” in Phoenix.

Check out the Alliance’s greatest hits from the past year below. We look forward to continuing to grow, advancing the strength and success of Arizona’s 350+ special districts.

For questions or to learn how to get involved, please contact Sara Carroll, ASDA Administrator, at info.asd.alliance@gmail.com.

ASDA Delivers Resources & Builds Understanding among Districts–Where they Are

Arizona is a big state, and most of our 350+ special districts serve exurban, rural, and remote communities. The Alliance knows firsthand how difficult it can be for district leaders to travel long distances for trainings or advocacy events. That’s why, this year, ASDA brought the Alliance to them.

President, Carol Shrock and Administrative Director, Sara Carroll visited Cochise, La Paz, Maricopa, Mohave, and Pinal counties, meeting with district leaders and county officials where they live and work. These visits created valuable opportunities to better understand districts’ diverse needs, identify resources to address local challenges, and refine the Alliance’s advocacy priorities.

In February, ASDA partnered with Cochise County—a County Member of the Alliance—to host a training luncheon in southeast Arizona. District officials gathered to learn best practices in county reporting and board administration, while also connecting directly with their local elected officials.

Building and strengthening county–district relationships remain central to ASDA’s mission. Shrock and Carroll have been laying the groundwork for greater collaboration between these two sectors of government—bridging divides and finding common ground for the future.

These meetings fostered a greater understanding of special districts’ diverse district needs and concerns, identify resources to address those needs, and to prioritize and strategize legislative advocacy.

The Alliance is especially grateful for the support of our county members in Cochise, La Paz, Pima, and Pinal. We look forward to continuing these partnerships and expanding local, impactful programs for districts across Arizona in the year ahead.

For more information, contact the Alliance at info.asd.alliance@gmail.com

Arizona’s Special Districts Formalize Policy Platform              

March 2025 

The Arizona Special Districts Alliance (ASDA) adopted its initial set of policy statements to how the association acts on pressing measures impacting the state’s special districts and delivery of services in their communities.

ASDA’s Board of Directors adopted the 2025 ASDA Policy Platform as a primary element of its mission to strengthen all Arizona’s special districts through advocacy. The living document altogether reflects the broad state and federal interests of Arizona’s most common form of local government.

“From turning on the spicket to emergency response along interstates, Arizona’s special districts are altogether an important element of the state’s critical and essential public services,” said Carol Shrock, ASDA President and Thunderbird (Pinal County) Irrigation Water Delivery District 1, Chair. “For far too long, Arizona’s special districts have lacked a unified voice to advocate on a dedicated set of policy priorities for hundreds of local governments and the more-than 1,000 elected and appointed officials directing these services. We are excited to write this new chapter for special districts advocacy from Phoenix to Washington.”

More than 350 special districts provide a range of critical and essential services, as authorized under Arizona Revised Statutes Tile 48. These special districts are providing public services their peer city and county governments do not otherwise provide to ensure quality of life and public safety – including water, wastewater, fire protection, hospital, library, flood control, irrigation, and electricity.

Within ASDA’s founding policy platform are seven general subjects.

·       Preserving Local Control & Strengthening Operations. ASDA’s overarching advocacy efforts are rooted in education for policymakers regarding the importance of special districts’ services and to foster understanding of their specialized, locally-controlled structure. Likewise, ASDA strives to deliver governance and educational resources to its membership.

·       Sustaining Local Revenue Resources. In tandem with preserving local control, ASDA supports polices that strengthen and sustain local revenue options, such as property tax and alternative sources. The Alliance is the special districts’ voice at the table for state-administered and state-sourced funding opportunities.

·       Cohesive Reporting Standards across Title 48. ASDA firmly supports open and transparent governance principles for the purposes of public trust and confidence, and it is important for these reporting standards to be consistent, sensical, and with little-to-no burden on special districts. This includes ensuring Arizona’s 15 counties are consistently and sufficiently updating special district records they are responsible to collect.

·       Centralized District Compliance for Arizona’s Special Districts. ASDA will seek to with the Arizona General Auditor work over the medium and long-term to be the recognized clearinghouse for special districts’ required public posting and filing of records (except fire districts, which have a central reporting option). The goal is to educate the general public as well as policy makers while strengthening confidence in special district government.

·       A Focus on Water Resources. Water resources, watershed health, and forest management all play a direct or indirect role in so many of Arizona’s special district services. ASDA recognizes this importance and aims to be at the table for water policy discussion impacting districts that have historically not had a voice in this important discussion.

·       Public Lands Management & Community Risk Reduction. ASDA supports policies that promote special districts’ involvement in management programs, hazard mitigation, and water infrastructure for firefighting solutions. Generally, the Alliance supports policies that foster intergovernmental collaboration on risk reduction programs. 

·       Elections. The Arizona Special Districts Alliance supports efforts to maintain integrity of the local elections process and ensure efficiency in the ballot process. This includes examining uniformity in election dates for special districts. Finally, ASDA supports efforts to reduce election & ballot expenses for special districts holding elections, pursuant to A.R.S. § 16-225.

The Alliance will ramp up its grassroots and legislative advocacy activities in the months ahead, first with an introduction of priorities to state legislative stakeholders during the 2025 state legislative session.

Are you a special district leader serving the Grand Canyon State and interested to get involved with ASDA’s legislative efforts strengthening all of Arizona’s special districts? Contact the Alliance at info.asd.alliance@gmail.com.

Special District Strategies, L.L.C., coordinated development of the ASDA Policy Platform.

The Arizona Special Districts Alliance was established in October 2024 as the ninth nonprofit organization in the country to serve and represent all types of districts in a state. ASDA’s Mission is to “join together to raise awareness of, advocate for, and strengthen all Arizona’s local special districts governments and their essential services to Arizonans.”

ASDA works to the fulfill its mission by offering educational opportunities and other resources on best practices for good governance; enhanced connection with governing counterparts at the county, state, and federal levels; more education pool resources for professional services; and enhance the understanding of the general public as well as state and federal legislatures on the importance of Arizona’s special districts in communities across the state.

Learn more at www.azdistrictsalliance.org. 

AZ District Leaders Host Roundtable with West Valley Congressional Delegation

May 2025

Leaders of special districts providing essential local public services across the west Phoenix Metro gathered Wednesday with representatives of the West Valley Congressional Delegation on federal issues impacting service to their communities.

The “West Valley Special Districts Congressional Roundtable” was hosted at the Arizona Fire & Medical Authority headquarters in Sun City West. Elected leadership and management of fire, domestic water, irrigation water delivery, and flood control districts met with the offices of Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, and Representatives Paul Gosar and Abe Hamadeh on topics that spanned from elevating awareness of district services across the region to the status and future of major funding opportunities.

The Arizona Special Districts Alliance (ASDA) coordinated the roundtable to facilitate direct conversations among federal representatives and local officials ensuring public health, safety, and quality of life for their shared constituents.

“The importance of special districts connecting with legislators and, importantly, their staff cannot be understated, said Carol Shrock, ASDA President. “From water infrastructure and flood control to firefighting and rural development - there are many federal issues that impact our services to our communities. We thank our congressional offices for taking time to meet Arizona’s special district leaders, getting to know us as local government stakeholders, and hearing our policy priorities.”

Top of mind for district officials was ensuring special districts have clear eligibility and access to federal programs. In doing so, they shared the core differences between special districts and peer general governments, such as cities and counties. Districts in attendance advocated in support of the bipartisan Special District Fairness and Accessibility Act, which would federally define the term “special district” for purpose of ensuring clear eligibility to access and engage with federal programs intended for local governments.

Following the Roundtable engagement, Senator Gallego became an original cosponsor of S. 2014 (Cornyn), the Senate version of the Special District Fairness and Accessibility Act.

District stakeholders raised concern with the trajectory of U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development programs. They cited reductions in technical assistance resources for water infrastructure and operations, which small public entities like domestic water improvement districts turn to for financial help. Fire district officials in attendance also underscored the importance of Department of Homeland Security fire prevention and safety programs, such as the Assistance to Firefighter Grant.

“We appreciate Arizona’s federal legislators taking the time to meet with us and hear firsthand about critical challenges and priorities facing Arizona’s special districts such as fire, water and irrigation districts,” said Arizona Fire & Medical Authority Chief Mary Dalton, and now Arizona Fire Districts Association Executive Director. “We look forward to more grassroots legislative engagements in the future. Together, we can work toward solutions that strengthen public safety and ensure our communities remain resilient and well-served.”

Kelly, Gallego, Gosar, and Hamedeh representatives also received a tour of an Arizona Fire & Medical Authority facility in Sun City West, which included an up-close look at the District’s fire apparatus.

Districts represented on the roundtable included the Daisy Mountain Fire & Medical District, St. David Flood Control District, Sunburst Farms Irrigation Water Delivery District, Thunderbird Irrigation Water Delivery District No. 1, the Arizona Fire Districts Association, and the Rural Water Association of Arizona.

More than 350 special districts provide essential public services across Arizona including fire protection, drinking water, wastewater treatment, flood control, irrigation, electricity, healthcare, library, and road maintenance services. They are political subdivisions of the state under Arizona Revised Statutes Title 48.

For more on how ASDA is raising awareness of and advocating for all Arizona’s local special districts governments, contact Sara Carroll, ASDA Administrator, at info.asd.alliance@gmail.com or visit www.azdistrictsalliance.org.

Special District Leaders and Stakeholder Meet with Gallego, Crane Offices

August 2025

Special district stakeholders providing fire protection and water resources across Arizona gathered on August 19 for an issues roundtable with staff for Senator, Ruben Gallego and Congressman, Eli Crane.

The Arizona Special Districts Alliance coordinated the event with host district Central Arizona Fire and Medical Authority, and with support from the Arizona Fire Districts Association.

Districts from Fort Mohave to San Simon and across Northern Arizona had the opportunity to advocate for bolstered rural development funding, Assistance to Firefighter Grant programming, and water infrastructure needs for fire suppression. District leaders further drove home Stakeholders further imparted the importance of districts as the most local of local governments, providing essential services to shared constituencies, and capitalized on the importance of recognizing special districts as a unit of local government.

Gallego and Crane staff attending the roundtable also toured a Central Arizona Fire and Medical Authority fire station, getting a firsthand and behind-the-scenes look at special district services.

The roundtable was the second ASDA coordinated in 2025. The Alliance looks forward to expanding the engagement for future roundtables to include state lawmakers and local officials.

For more information, contact Sara Carroll at info.asd.alliance@gmail.com or arizonaspecialdistrictalliance.specialdistrict.org