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Public fiduciary describes surging caseload, asks board to convert benefits specialist to full-time
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Summary
Coconino County's public fiduciary told supervisors the office manages roughly 130 wards now (projecting 140), handles complex statutory accounting and cases across the region, and requested converting a limited-term benefit specialist to a permanent position to prevent loss of institutional knowledge and risks to client benefits.
The county’s public fiduciary outlined a workload and compliance case for additional ongoing staffing during the board’s April 27 budget session.
Rashida, the public fiduciary, told the board the office is statutorily mandated to manage guardianship and conservatorship cases under Arizona law (including ARS 14-5601 and ARS 11-600 for indigent decedent services). The office reported it currently manages about 130 wards and is estimating roughly 140 by fiscal year end because petitions and investigations are rising. Case administrators completed more than 525 client visits in the prior fiscal year and are projecting 575 visits; many wards are placed outside the county — about 40% live in the Valley, which increases travel time and costs.
Rashida emphasized tight audit requirements (monthly bank reconciliations, annual accounting filings to the court) and the critical role of benefit specialists who manage Social Security, DES and long-term care issues for wards. The office reported a 10.1% operating deficit and said recent federal and state changes had increased redetermination frequency for benefits and added workload. Because the benefits workload is highly specialized and slow to train (positions take up to two years to ramp), she asked the board to convert a long-running limited-term benefit specialist into a permanent FTE to maintain continuity and avoid compliance risk.
Board members thanked the fiduciary and asked staff to document cross-department impacts and to work with government affairs to amplify how federal or state changes affect county workload and budgets. The presentation also covered indigent cremation services, case-management performance, and recent emergency responses when federal SNAP benefits were delayed.
What’s next: board members asked county staff to collaborate with government affairs and other departments to quantify the broader county impact of programmatic shifts so the supervisors can use that material in advocacy.
