Yuma has more than $1 million in opioid settlement money. The state's records don't show the city spending any of it.

On Nov. 4, the Yuma City Council voted to sign on to more opioid settlements. Buried in the paperwork was one number.

The city has received $1,094,286 so far.

The money comes from the national lawsuits against drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies. It can only be spent fighting the opioid crisis: treatment, prevention, naloxone, drug take-back programs, anti-drug coalitions and training for first responders.

So I went looking for where Yuma's share went.

Where Arizona keeps the receipts

Under the statewide One Arizona agreement, local governments get 56 percent of Arizona's settlement money. Each county region reports to the Attorney General what came in and what went out, through June 30 of every year. The Attorney General posts those reports online.

There are four years of them so far. Here's what they show for the Yuma County region, which includes Yuma County, the City of Yuma, San Luis, Somerton and Wellton.

• July 2022 to June 2023: "No Reported Expenditures."
• July 2023 to June 2024: "No Reported Expenditures."
• July 2024 to June 2025: $63,820.90 spent. All of it by the San Luis Police Department and the City of Somerton, for first responders and training.
• July 2025 to June 2026: $8,669.65 spent. San Luis police training, plus one Somerton line under preventing overdose deaths.

Across four years, there's not one line of spending for the City of Yuma.

There isn't one for Yuma County government either.

What the city took in

The same reports show what the county passed along to the City of Yuma:

• 2022-23: $191,346.70
• 2023-24: $355,061.84
• 2024-25: $181,346.91
• 2025-26: $134,211.90

That's $861,967.35 through June 30, 2026.

The city's own figure, in its Nov. 4 paperwork, is $1,094,286. The state's tables stop at June 30, and the city's number is more recent. I can't tell from the public record what accounts for the roughly $232,000 difference.

To be fair

Three things the city can fairly point to.

There's no deadline. The city's own paperwork says, "There is no time limit on the expenditure of settlement funds." Holding the money isn't against the rules.

The city has a plan for some of it. The Yuma Sun reported that the city planned to set aside opioid money for the Yuma County Anti-Drug Coalition, which lost its federal grant. Since then, the City Council has approved an outside-agency agreement authorizing $100,000 from opioid settlement funds for the coalition. The agreement calls for four quarterly payments of $25,000, subject to reporting and other requirements. The state's reports in this story run only through June 30, before that agreement passed on Sept. 2. They don't show how much, if any, has been paid since.

A blank line isn't proof of nothing. The reports show what the region submitted. If the city spent money and it never made it into the report, that's a different problem, but it's still a problem.

The county is in the same spot

Yuma County government's share is bigger. The Yuma Sun reported in April that the county had received about $2 million, and that a plan for spending it was still being developed. The state's reports show no spending by the county through June 30, 2026.

My opinion: Four years is a long time for money meant for an overdose crisis to sit in an account. The city and the county may both have good plans. Neither has shown one in the public record. San Luis and Somerton, with a fraction of the money, did.

Ask them yourself

These are the questions the public record doesn't answer.

1. How much of the $1,094,286 has the City of Yuma spent, on what and when?
2. How much of the $100,000 agreement with the Yuma County Anti-Drug Coalition has been paid?
3. Did the city report any spending to the region for 2022 through 2026? If so, why doesn't it appear in the state's reports?
4. What's the plan for the rest?

If the City answers, I'll print it.

Where this comes from

• Opioid Settlements, file MC 2026-211, City of Yuma Legistar, approved Nov. 4, 2026. Official record. Source for the $1,094,286 received, allowed uses, "no time limit" language, regional split and fiscal impact.
• One Arizona Agreement: Regions, Arizona Attorney General. Official record. Source for the reporting system and 2025-26 Yuma County region tables.
• Attorney General region reports, official records. Source for every received and spent figure: 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25, 2025-26.
• Outside Agency Agreement: Yuma County Anti-Drug Coalition, file MC 2026-160, City of Yuma Legistar, passed Sept. 2, 2026. Official record. Source for the $100,000 agreement and payment schedule.
• Yuma allocates opioid funds to local anti-drug coalition, Yuma Sun. Reporting. Source for the coalition allocation and Simonton's quote.
• Yuma County joins new opioid settlement, Yuma Sun, April 2026. Reporting. Source for the county's roughly $2 million and its unfinished spending plan.