Land auction finally set

Arizona parks officials and local governments in the Phoenix and Flagstaff areas are moving to spend up to $52 million of land conservation money that legislators envisioned being used instead to help keep the budget in the black. The state Parks Board on Wednesday voted to award grants to Coconino County and the cities of Phoenix and Scottsdale for separate purchases of large parcels of state trust land for preservation as open space. This includes as much as $7 million from the Parks Board to buy thousands of acres at Rogers Lake, which goes up for auction Nov. 1, said Cynthia Nemeth, interim director of Coconino County Parks and Recreation. That is one day before the election, when voters statewide might decide to empty the land conservation fund and redirect it toward balancing the state budget.

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