Maricopa County employees Kim and Alex McMahon cite paid leave, donated sick time and new on-site childcare

Kim and Alex McMahon, both Maricopa County employees, said the county’s benefits helped their family through a cancer diagnosis and will reduce child-care costs after the county opened an on-site center.

The McMahons described a combination of paid parental leave, co-worker donations of sick time and a new county childcare program as “investments” in employees that eased financial and caregiving burdens. Their youngest son, Josh, is set to attend Maricopa County Kids Club, the county’s new on-site childcare center.

Alex McMahon said he has been with the county’s flood-control unit and that this will be “my eighth monsoon.” He described the family connection to county work and the camaraderie among co-workers. Kim McMahon credited colleagues and county benefits with helping the family through a health crisis: “I was diagnosed with cancer in 2019,” she said, and “Kim's colleagues donated 12 weeks of sick leave to her.” With medical care, she added, she is now in remission.

The couple said paid parental leave was important for their family. They also discussed the new on-site childcare: “The county deciding that they were gonna open a childcare center was an absolute blessing for us,” Kim McMahon said, adding that the center’s fees are “nearly half of what we're paying where we are.” The family said the center’s downtown location will allow her husband to drop off and pick up their child more easily.

The remarks, recorded in a county presentation, were personal testimony about benefits and programs rather than proposals for policy changes. No formal board action, vote or ordinance was recorded in the transcript excerpt.

The McMahons’ statements illustrate how county employee benefits and an on-site childcare option can affect working families’ decisions and finances; county officials did not provide additional budgetary or programmatic details in the excerpt provided.