Rural Arizonans Say ‘The Bills Are Too Damn High’ at Pinal County Community Roundtable Event

CASA GRANDE, AZ — Veterans, union workers, caregivers and grandparents gathered Wednesday night to talk about the rising cost of living in rural Arizona. The community roundtable, hosted by Climate Power and Rural Arizona Action (RAZA), featured JoAnna Mendoza, a leader in the community and AZ-06 congressional candidate, alongside Pinal County residents who described a squeeze on their household budgets from energy bills, gas prices, groceries, and health care. 

“I have to keep my thermostat set at 85 degrees during the summer so I can afford other essential things,” said Terri Arvizu, a longtime Casa Grande resident who spoke on the panel about the tradeoffs she’s experiencing in this affordability crisis. “My insurance is high with a high deductible. Sometimes even, I can’t afford to go to the doctor because my deductible is so high. I have to make choices where I’m having to skip going to the doctor.”

—See photos and video from the Affordability Roundtable here —

Arvizu was one of several Pinal County residents on the panel, which included union worker Albert Gonzalez and RAZE community organizer Malorie Martinez. Former KGUN9 (Tucson) reporter Reyna Preciado moderated the conversation.

Impacts of the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA), rising gas prices, and burdensome grocery and insurance costs were the primary topics of conversation among mixer attendees and panelists.

Mendoza, who is a resident of nearby Eloy, articulated how rising costs are only exacerbated for rural Arizonans who are presented with fewer job and career opportunities.

“I grew up in Eloy. I grew up in rural poverty,” Mendoza said. “Part of the problem in a rural community without infrastructure is that a lot of us leave. The kids leave because opportunity is limited. It’s a very difficult choice that we have to make.”

In rural Arizona towns, the majority of jobs with stability require employees to travel out of their town into the city or nearby communities, in many cases with more than 30 minute commutes. Access to jobs and rising gas prices are contributing to the challenges families are facing in rural communities across the state.

“There’s very little union work here. In the city, there’s lots. But not out here. So, we’re spending more and more on gas,” Albert Gonzalez said. “We’re trying to get more construction work out here, because we’re spending double on gas right now.”

Mendoza added that the burden falls hardest on families with the least room to absorb it.

“We are behind on diverse energy sources. It scares me we are making ourselves vulnerable,” Mendoza said. “Rural Arizona leaders need to understand what it takes to stretch a paycheck to cover the electric bill and a tank of gas.”

Panelists also connected the affordability squeeze to the state’s uneven record on clean energy jobs. 

Malorie Martinez said residents want assurances those jobs will stick, not vanish the way recent clean energy investments have elsewhere in Arizona, pointing to a cancelled battery plant in Buckeye, Meyer Burger’s shuttered solar plant in Goodyear, and layoffs at Lucid Motors.

“When these companies come and then do these layoffs in this way–it’s not that there are no jobs. It’s that there’s no stability in those jobs,” Martinez said. “If there was stability, people in our rural communities would feel like they have security. Just because you’re offering these jobs, doesn’t mean you don’t have to engage with our communities to find out what we really need.”

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