By: Jerry LoCoco,  Corcol Commercial Real Estate

Why should tertiary real estate brokers and commercial real estate brokers care about higher education in Yuma County? Why does this matter to you? The answer is in the numbers, specifically a formula: Higher education = Talented workforce = Economic development. This formula is emphasized by leaders at the state, the Arizona Board of Regents, and Governor Ducey. A recent article from The Arizona School of Business and Real Estate^[1], states, “possibly the biggest draw for the market is the talented workforce. The higher education institutions in the region are producing some of the most sought-after graduates and garnering national recognition.” So where is Yuma’s funding for higher education dollars?

In the last Corcol Commercial Real Estate newsletter, we spoke about the billion dollar bond initiative and an article^[2] from AZ Big Media, which summarized that 88% of the bond money will be spent in Tucson and Phoenix and 12% in Flagstaff; allocating not one dollar to Yuma County. The State and Board of Regents stresses that higher education brings economic development, but they are allocating absolutely nothing to our great city. What message does that send?

While the oversight may be intentional or not, we must voice our concern. As taxpayers in Yuma County, we need to stand up and hold our elected officials accountable. A bond is just like a big credit card that residents of Yuma will eventually pay the principal and interest on. Furthermore, just 1% of a billion dollars is $10 million; money that could be well spent in higher education in Yuma County.

As a solution, our office has created a petition urgently requesting Governor Ducey to use this funding in Yuma County. If you are inclined, please read and sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/governor-doug-ducey-higher-education-in-yuma. As always, Yuma Proud and Yuma Strong! We look forward to updating you on the progress of this initiative soon!

^[1] Camacho, Chris. “Economic Update.” Arizona School of Real Estate & Business [Phoenix] December 2017

^[2] Education, Office of. “AZ Big Media: How Gov. Ducey’s $1 Billion Bonding Bill Will Be Spent.”Office of Education, Office of Education, 11 Dec. 2017, education.azgovernor.gov/edu/news/2017/12/az-big-media-how-gov-duceys-1-billion-bonding-bill-will-be-spent.