Benatar recalls having a job call with the Coconino County attorney’s office just eight hours after giving birth to her daughter. When she was six weeks old, Benatar’s little one had claimed rights to an estate within her mother’s office where Benatar had been doing her job with her passion.

“I don’t think anyone would come in and say, ‘I want to be the county treasurer!'” she said of her position in the office most associated with collecting property taxes. “That’s not what I set out to do. It made me want to change the community.

“This is our home and where we raise our little ones. I met my husband here. He and I aren’t from Flagstaff, but I think that’s how it often is. Many of us I’m not from Flagstaff, but I’ve made it home, and it’s been a passion for generations to make this place a better place, and I’ve been able to do it here.”

Benatar was contacted by then-Coconino County Treasurer Bonnie Lynn while overseeing the Finance and Finance Committee at United Way in Northern Arizona.

“I was ready to do something new.

With Lynn’s encouragement, she applied for and won the appointment in 2014. She was 27 at the time.

Benatar was subsequently elected to that post in 2016 and 2020.

Benatar may have been Coconino County’s youngest treasurer to date, but that’s not the only thing that distinguishes her. As of January 1, she serves as president of the Arizona County Association (AACo).

“The Arizona County Association represents all counties and their elected officials: assessors, registrars, treasurers, magistrates, constables and oversight boards,” Benatar explained. increase.

All 15 Arizona counties are members of the AACo and are represented by county-elected officials. The group works to represent county interests in the Arizona State Capitol, bridging the gap between county officials and state legislators.

Benatar was delighted to join AACo as county treasurer.

Today, she is the youngest county representative to serve as chairman since the AACo’s founding in 1967, and the first woman in Coconino County to hold the position.

“In the finance role, you touch a lot. , and have been able to speak up for our communities, not just locally but statewide and nationally,” she said.

Benatar said there can be a disconnect between the field work overseen by elected officials in the county and the policy ideas of state legislators.

That’s exactly where AAoC comes in.

“State legislators have their own ideas about how things should be done. A lot of what we do is really defensive work,” Benatar said.

AACo will oppose any bill that is not in the interests of the county. Also, legislators spend a lot of time understanding how the county operates. Benatar helped organize her Day of Treasury Secretary Advocacy to introduce lawmakers through her job as a county banker, showing what the process of collecting and processing property taxes looks like.

She also worked with Coconino County reporter Patti Hansen and Yavapai and Yuma county officials to get legislators to inspect ballot boxes and learn first-hand how elections are conducted in Arizona.

“So it’s education. [We wanted] This is how elections actually take place, and this is what a dropbox looks like. It’s actually bolted on. I’ll walk you through the process,” said Benatar. “Every two years we have elections. increase.”

This year, Arizona will welcome a slew of new lawmakers and its first Democratic governor in over a decade, Katie Hobbs.

“Honestly, there is a change in leadership across the state that we haven’t seen since the early 2000s. …I think we’re going to see a lot of bills that require a lot of defensive strategies from the county, everything from changing elections to cutting county and tax revenues,” Benatar said.

Her background in social work makes her optimistic about the new governor. To do.

“When Gov. Hobbes’ budget is released, usually this week or next, it will be interesting to see where her priorities lie and how much they change compared to Congress, which is still Republican-run. Where is the compromise?”

Being involved in a wide range of politics and working for the Arizona State Capitol was important to Benatar. She attended her AACo in 2014 on behalf of Coconino County.

“It is a very important role for us to build positive relationships with our legislators, advocate for the county, and ensure that they understand the issues facing our community.” “We are considered a rural county, a mid-sized rural county. It’s not guaranteed that you’ll hear it.”

She was elected president of the AACo by her peers over a year ago. She’s honored to have played her part, but at the same time she wants to start her work.

“The way it works,” she said. In theory, every cop could be a different county sheriff. Coconino didn’t have a president for quite some time. When I entered it became clear that I needed to be there. That was a priority for me because we needed to be present and active in legislation.

“It’s been successful. We’ve been able to kill some really bad bills. Along those lines, I’ve recruited various sheriffs, recorders, and various elected officials across the state. Then I was like, ‘Hey, I have this partnership with these legislators, do you want to connect with them?'”

As a young mother and woman of color, Benatar is a trailblazer, and that comes with its own set of challenges. This is evidenced by several discoveries made by young accountants.

“In the Capitol, neither house has a changing table. The only changing table is actually in the Capitol Museum,” Benatar said.

While advocating policy change, Benatar had to change his daughter’s diaper on the floor of the Capitol bathroom.

For her, being able to see her family in the Capitol is important for many reasons.

“Generally, at work, family shouldn’t be a barrier to career direction or the direction you want to change,” says Benatar. “If people see you doing that, hopefully they’ll come back wherever they are and be like, ‘Hey, this is okay!’ may think, ‘I should be a little more supportive of the family support bill’. ”

Benatar is also the daughter of a working mother. Her mother’s strengths and struggles helped form part of her new AACo president passion.

“My family is from Guatemala,” said Benatar. “My father passed away when I was two years old, so I had a single mother who was not from this country. I was struggling with depression Behavioral health is not well accepted in our culture There is a lot of stigma around it How can we break down these barriers? I want to make sure that these barriers are broken down.It has become my passion.”

In addition to serving on the AACo Board, Benatar serves on the Group’s Health Steering Committee.

The commission has led many mental health advocacy efforts. This includes working on a letter to Congress recommending that the Agency for Medicaid Inmates and Mental Illness Elimination Policy be modified or abolished; We also provide funding.

“If you have Medicaid, you don’t really have access to things that you would have had if you weren’t in prison or in prison. I was able to get things together so I had a national tool for my county, whether it was funding a grant or signing a letter to a member of Congress. said Benatar.

Her mother is not alone in her willingness to work on mental health-related policies. Benatar’s mother did not become a US citizen until 2014. Deported when Benatar was in high school.

For a young mother and county official, facing adversity as a first-generation American was one of her major motivations for becoming a civil servant. She said she never took her opportunities for granted and that she has always strived to give back to the communities she joined.

In her Flagstaff office, Benatar is surrounded by motherhood traps. Yoda’s baby toy is next to the laptop that Benatar uses to zoom in on meetings on legislative priorities. When she says, “She loves what she’s doing here,” it’s clear that she wants to do everything.