Board approves Yuma County agricultural broadband authority district

The Yuma County Board of Supervisors voted April 20 to accept a petition and establish a Broadband Service District Authority intended to support agricultural broadband connectivity across the county.

Deputy County Administrator Josh Scott introduced the petition, saying the legislature authorized formation of such authorities by petition. The petition, submitted March 19 by the Yuma County Agriculture Water Coalition, included proposed boundaries, board‑selection methodology and draft bylaws. Josh Scott said the authority would facilitate broadband deployment and connectivity for agriculture and allow multiple private providers to join without privileging a single company.

A petitioner’s representative, Mark, told the board the district is designed to operate broadband for agricultural users and clarified the district would not have taxing authority. He and board members said the district’s board would be composed of actual users and constituents to keep operations oriented to agricultural needs.

Board members praised the local coalition’s work. The board voted in separate motions to accept the petition, approve proposed district boundaries and the board‑member selection methodology, and to authorize the chairman to sign documents necessary to form the district. Each motion carried.

Supervisors and staff noted the district is a novel statutory vehicle in Arizona for agriculture‑focused broadband and said they expect it to help connectivity, improve county IT systems over time and support precision‑agriculture tools.

The board did not adopt a taxing mechanism; staff emphasized the authority is structured as a special‑use district without taxing authority.

Next steps: county staff will finalize formation documents and proceed with administrative steps authorized by the board.