NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — A 128-year-old law establishing two judicial districts in Carroll County is so problematic that it should be abolished, said Justice of the Peace Ron Flake.
If that happens, the county would have one judicial district with one county courthouse in Berryville, which has officially been the county seat since 1875.
A 103-year-old building in Eureka Springs, 12 miles to the west, would no longer serve as the county’s western district courthouse.
That alone could save about $150,000 per year, Flake said.
“That could put another deputy or two on the road or provide pay raises,” he said. “It could do a lot of things we need.”
But Lamont Richie, another Quorum Court member, said that’s not a substantial savings.
“I don’t think it’s enough money to warrant closing the courthouse,” said Richie, who is also the transit director for Eureka Springs. “I think it’s important to the people in the Western District and the people in Eureka Springs, in particular, to preserve the presence of the courthouse.”
Abolishing Act 74 of 1883 could also have other effects, including how taxes are collected and distributed, which the state Legislature already is addressing.
Flake said he will present a resolution to the Quorum Court asking area legislators to file a bill to repeal Act 74 in its entirety. But he wants to give people time todiscuss the issue first.
“I don’t want anybody to think this is being rushed,” he said.
State Rep. Bryan King, RGreen Forest, said he would probably file such a bill if the Quorum Court recommended it. But state Sen. Randy Laverty, D-Jasper, said Wednesday that he wasn’t aware of an effort to repeal Act 74 in its entirety.
“I don’t want to become a part of anything that would do away with the courthouse in Eureka Springs, but that’s going to have to be something that’s decided by law,” he said.
Laverty also said he usually takes guidance from the Quorum Court on such matters.
On Jan. 31, the 11-member Quorum Court voted 7-3 with one abstaining to ask area legislators to file a bill to change part of Act 74. That change would clarify that tax revenue collected in either judicial district could be commingled and distributed throughout the entire county.
King has drafted that bill and said it could be filed today.
But Flake said, as problems kept arising, it became obvious to him that Act 74 should be repealed in its entirety.
Last week, the Quorum Court discovered that the county has been using the wrong dividing line between the two judicial districts. Instead of the Kings River, the boundary is actually a northsouth range line according to Act 74, which cites an 1869 law concerning the boundary. That means the western district is about 45 square miles smaller than believed for more than a century. The western district covers 128 square miles, compared with 509 for the eastern district.
That could have ramifications for everything from criminal trials to fire and ambulance service.
Jury pools have been drawn from the eastern or western districts, depending on where the trial is held, in accordance with Act 74. But based on the actual boundary, some trials may have been held in the wrong courthouse, and some jurors may have come from the wrong district for trials.
By the book, Berryville firefighters are responsible for part of the territory west of the Kings River. Berryville Fire Chief Doug Johnson said it would take 30 minutes for them to respond to a fire in that area.
If the Quorum Court wants Act 74 repealed in its entirety, King said he could file an amendment to the bill he plans to file today. Or he could file a “shell” bill to give the Quorum Court timeto discuss the matter at its March 18 meeting.
King plans to hold public meetings on Act 74 in Eureka Springs and Holiday Island, but those meetings haven’t been scheduled.
Carroll County wanted two judicial districts in 1883 because it was almost impossible to cross the Kings River when it flooded. So courthouses were built in Eureka Springs and Berryville.
In 1880, with a population of 3,984, Eureka Springs was 15 times larger than Berryville. Now, Berryville is more than twice the size of Eureka Springs. In 2010, Berryville had 5,356 residents, compared with 2,073 in Eureka Springs, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The details of Act 74 have become an issue since Oct. 7, when the Arkansas Supreme Court upheld the law in a ruling confirming that the county has two judicial districts. The high court stated that Carroll County Circuit Judge Kent Crow didn’t have the authority to consolidate the judicial districts, which he attempted to do in a March 15 order. Only the state Legislature can change judicial districts, according to the Supreme Court.
But Act 74 also states that the two judicial districts are to act as separate counties as far as revenue and other matters are concerned.
That prompted the Eureka Springs Carnegie Library board to file suit Jan. 24 against the county, seeking all of the library tax revenue collected in the western district. The county has three libraries: two in the eastern district and one in the western district. Revenue has traditionally been divided evenly among them. Estimating that about half of the library tax revenue comes from the western district, the Eureka Springs library board claims its library is entitled to about half of the money instead of one-third.
The first floor of the Eureka Springs courthouse is used for city offices, which Eureka Springs leases from the county. The second floor contains county offices, and a courtroom is on the third floor.
Over the past two years, three jury trials have been held in the courthouse.
If the Eureka Springs courthouse is closed, real estate and western district court records would be consolidated in Berryville.
If the county stops using the Eureka Springs building as a courthouse, Flake said a marriage license bureau could be kept open in the building, and real estate records could be dropped off there for delivery to Berryville.
But Richie didn’t like that idea.
“It’s not a courthouse anymore,” he said of the plan. “It’s just a building at that point.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 02/24/2011