Ricósia County, Verona

Ricósia County
County
Comarca de Ricósia
From top down, left to right: Downtown Aurimá; Ricósia County Superior Court; Verona State Capitol; Villega from the Albacia River; Lake Prince; Axiom Arena; and the Western Rise looking east toward Lake Prince.
Flag Seal
Country	Cartadania
State	Verona
Region	Central Verona
Metro area	Centralia Metro Area
Chartered	1710
County seat	Aurimá
Largest city	Aurimá
Incorporated cities	6
Government
• Body	Board of Supervisors
• Chief executive officer	Manilo Astorini (SDP)
Area
• Total	6,404.3 km2 (2,472.7 sq mi)
• Land	6,381.5 km2 (2,463.9 sq mi)
• Water	22.8 km2 (8.8 sq mi)
Area rank	29th
Population  (2020)
• Total	3,214,798
• Density	500/km2 (1,300/sq mi)
Area code(s)	414/595/787/905
ICGE Code	02CM0033
Primary Airport	Aurimá International Airport (AUR) (major/international)
Secondary Airport	Fort Mackenzie/Amari Airport (FMF) (Domestic/Neighboring county) Varina Airport (VRA) (Domestic/Neighboring county) Ricósia Executive Airport (REA) (Minor/Domestic)
Interstates
Federal routes
State Routes
Rapid Transit	CVMTA
Commuter Rail	Orenvia, PalmettoRail, VME
Website	Ricósia County Website

Ricósia County, officially the County of Ricósia (Cartadanian: Comarca de Ricósia), is a county in the Commonwealth of Verona. It is situated in central Verona and is the most central county in the state, located in the aptly named Centralia Valley. In 2030, following the federal census, the county's population was recorded at 3,214,798, making it the fifth-largest county in Verona by population, and the most populous outside of the Palm Coast. It is the 3rd highest-income county in Verona, and among the top 20 in Cartadania by median family income. Home to the state's capital, Aurimá, which is also its county seat and Verona's eighth-largest city, Ricósia County is home to many of the state's governmental offices and agencies. The city of Villega, located near the county's northern border had long been the county's largest city, a position it lost at the 2020 census when Aurimá added nearly 80,000 people to its population.

History

Ricósia County was one of the original counties of Verona, created at the time of Verona statehood in 1710.

At the time of its establishment in 1710, Ricósia County was relatively large, and included a large portion of east-central Verona, with all of what are now Albacia, Belleaire, Nassiva, Sinas and Varina Counties. During the later part of the 18th and 19th century, there were numerous changes in the boundaries of Ricósia County, when various areas were separated to make up the counties aforementioned.

Education

Aurimá Independent School District is the public school district serving all of central county, including all of the city of Aurimá, the cities of Bridgeton and Arilha, and the CDPs of Fairway and Central, and portions of the cities of Shearwater and Troy. 84 of district's 87 schools are fully accredited at rank Exemplary. The district enrolls approximately 76,000 students.

Villega Independent School District is the public school district serving all of north county, including all of the city of Villega and the CDPs of Amblin, Destin, and Folley. The district has 71 schools, 60 of which are ranked at Exemplary, nine are rank Accredited, and the remaining two are unranked due to having recently been constructed. The district serves approximately 59,000 students.

Ricósia Independent School District is the public school district serving all of south county and any portions of Ricósia County not served by Aurimá or Villega ISDs. It enrolls approximately 116,000 students in 104 schools, all of which are ranked at Exemplary. The district pulls a large portion of its funding from the county's local revenues designated on education. Most of RISDs funding, however, is from state funding, bonds, and property taxes.

The city of Aurimá is home to two universities: Forryn University, a private university founded by Jose Forryn, which has historically focused on graduate education but has recently established an undergraduate program as well. Sousa University, associated with the Reslin organization, the Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE), offers M.A. degrees in Transpersonal Studies, with many New Age subjects thanks to its Reslin link.

Villega State University and VCU Villega are in Villega and both the University of Verona and Verona Tech operate campuses in Aurimá. Centralia Valley Community College, a major junior college, also has its largest campus located in the city of Aurimá. Morrison University's main campus is located in the city of Shearwater. Additional institutions of higher education are located in other communities of greater Villega.

Transportation

Centralia Valley Metro Transit Authority (METRO or CVMTA) is the metropolitan transit authority for the greater metropolitan area. It operates the bus, light rail, and ferry systems within the region and is an arm of the metropolitan county government consortium. It has the largest single jurisdiction transit fleet in Verona (larger counties of Sierra, Andina, Victoria, and Sinhedes are served by the large PCMTA).

CMTA also operates Aurimá International Airport, which sits in a unincorporated section of the county between the cities of Aurimá and Villega. Seven airlines provide nonstop services to seven countries, although most flights to destinations outside of Verona (and Cartadania as a whole) tend to pass through Sierra International Airport. AUR had 9,703,664 passengers take off or land at its facility and 68,778,934 pounds of cargo were processed through its facilities. Fort Mackenzie/Amari Airport, located in Albacia County also provides commercial air service for the area.

The county is criss-crossed by a number of highways and roads, including IH-45, IH-47, IH-50 and Verona SH-295 (which has no speed limit for a large portion of its length).