Pinal Today

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors has halted its plans to file a lawsuit against Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and the Department of the Treasury after the governor announced he would be allocating $441 million of the state's $1.9 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funding to local counties. 

According to a May 28 Pinal Central article, County Attorney Kent Volkmer urged the Board of Supervisors on May 15 to fight for their share of the federal money distribution and pointed out that Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa, Pima and Maricopa had already received their portion of the pandemic relief. 

“Every Arizonan counts, and they have a right to be treated fairly," Volkmer told the board of supervisors, according to the Pinal Central. If he’s going to be a bully, you have to stand up and punch a bully in the face."

Local mayors applauded Ducey for finally allocating the funds with Sahuarita Mayor Tom Murphy saying his city's economy has been "ravaged" by the coronavirus pandemic, the article reported.

Ducey also announced that $150 million of the federal relief funds will be used for the Express Pay Program to give immediate funding to local governments, schools, state agencies and other entities and the remainder of the funds reserved for the state's future needs, according to the article.