Two Republican lawmakers have proposed dividing Maricopa County into four counties.

News promotion: Republican Scottsdale Rep. Alexander Collodin sponsored HCR2018 and submitted the plan to a vote in November 2024.

• Senator Jake Hoffman of R-Queen Creek also said, Specification Split the county.

Plans are split in four ways:

• A new, smaller Maricopa County would cover most of Phoenix.
• Hohokam County would occupy the southeastern part of the valley.
• Mogollon County would cover the Scottsdale area and parts of northern Phoenix.
• Oodum County will include the West Valley and sparsely populated areas of western Maricopa County and the southwest.

environment: Similar proposals have been coerced in the past, but after the 2020 election, when people touting false claims that the election was rigged against former President Trump began suggesting county divisions. , the issue gained momentum.

Zoom in: Kolodin told Axios Phoenix that a smaller county government would be more responsive to the needs of its residents, and said Maricopa County’s size concentrates too much power.

• He disputes that larger counties are more efficient, saying that residents should decide when counties become too large.
• Corodin notes that Arizonans outside Silicon Valley have complained about the impact of the “great Maricopa state” for years.
• He also served in Maricopa County ballot printer problem With the 2022 general election, the cause remains unknown.

note: With over 4.4 million residents as of the 2020 Census, Maricopa County is the fourth most populous county in the United States.

• Metro Phoenix retains 62% of the state’s population, regardless of the number of counties it split into.

Line spacing: Three of the four counties will need to raise property taxes to cover the new operating costs, and Mogollon’s property taxes are likely to be cut. analysis of the 2022 proposal from the Joint Legislative and Budget Committee, based primarily on Maricopa County data.

• Maricopa County estimates that adding staff to the new county will cost about $155 million annually.

• The county has the option to sign a 10-year contract to use existing Maricopa County infrastructure and facilities.
• Corodin was skeptical of the new county’s fixed high tax rate, pointing out that these figures came from Maricopa County’s own analysis.

Opposite side: Maricopa County Councilor Eddie Cook said he opposed the proposal and is meeting with officials across the county to hold a rally against it.

• He says it is driven by anger over the election.
• John Allen County Treasurer calls the plan “the opposition of good, conservative government.”
• Allen and Cook said the new county would require substantial new facilities and infrastructure, including prisons and court systems, and would require many of Maricopa County’s assets to be split.

What’s next: Neither Collodin’s plan nor Hoffmann’s bill have yet been scheduled for committee hearings, so their support is unknown.

• Legislative Democrats were hostile to Hoffman’s bill last year, and Republicans only have a one-vote majority in each house.
• Unlike Hoffman’s bill, Corodin’s proposal does not require the governor’s signature to go to the vote, allowing it to circumvent Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.