Among the oddities in Arkansas county government is the existence of multiple courthouses in some, as in neighboring Carroll County.
The county has had one courthouse in Berryville, the county seat, and another in Eureka Springs for more than a century. The distinction is now proving to be a problem.
When the Legislature established two judicial districts for the county 128 years ago, the reason was physical.
If the Kings River, which flows through the county, flooded, people couldn’t get from one side to the other, at least not without great difficulty.
Bridges and better infrastructure eventually solved that problem but the divided judicial system remains in place.
Apparently, as time passed, details in the 128-year-old law that created the dual districts, Act 74 of 1883, were forgotten.
They came roaring back into the public conscience last year when Carroll County Circuit Judge Kent Crow attempted to consolidate the judicial districts by judicial order.
The Arkansas Supreme Court disabused him of that notion with an October decision confirming that the county has two districts and asserting that only the state Legislature could change them.
But there were other details in that old law that were rediscovered in the process. The law said the two districts are to act as separate counties where revenue and other matters are concerned.
The Eureka Springs Carnegie Library’s board seized the opportunity and filed suit early this year, asking for all thelibrary tax revenue collected in the western district. It has been splitting revenue with two other libraries in the eastern district.
They argued that about half of all the money generated by the tax, instead of a third, should be theirs because half the money comes from the western district.
On top of this funding fight, there’s the question of the limited use of the courthouse in Eureka Springs, which is now less than half the size of Berryville. The cost of maintaining separate courthouses could be saved or at least cut substantially if only a few satellite services were available in the western district and all other functions were consolidated in Berryville.
Leave it to someone else to figure out just when and why the language began to be ignored, but it has been. And that’s a problem that seems to worsen as more issues arise.
The latest question involves the use of the wrong dividing line between the districts for who knows how long. The Kings River isn’t the line, although it was believed to be. The line instead is a particular northsouth range line.
That means some of the decisions, like where a given trial was held or who was in the jury pool, were made inerror. Imagine the possible ramifications from that one.
So, there is a move afoot to abolish Act 74 altogether.
Meanwhile, the Carroll County Quorum Court has asked lawmakers to clarify at least part of the law. The clarification would allow tax revenue collected in either judicial district to be commingled and distributed throughout the entire county, thus thwarting the Carnegie Library’s argument that it is entitled to half the library tax revenue or any other arguments like it.
For the record, the language in the old law is about as plain as it can be: “The financial affairs of each district shall be kept as separate and distinct as though the two districts were separate and distinct counties.”
State Rep. Bryan King, R-Green Forest has introduced a bill in the Legislature that would repeal some of the provisions in the law and leave it to the county to pass an ordinance establishingthat revenue be allocated for the entire county, not its separate judicial districts.
House Bill 1545 was filed Wednesday and is assigned to a House committee. State Sen.
Randy Laverty, D-Jasper, is the co-sponsor.
It’s one of those bills designed to impact only Carroll County and should easily pass the Legislature; but it may sit awhile as local folks decide if they might prefer to abolish Act 74 of 1883 altogether.
It’s certainly beginning to sound as if that would be a better long-term fix; but lawmakers are looking to the locals for guidance on that more controversial call.
BRENDA BLAGG IS A COLUMNIST FOR NORTHWEST ARKANSAS MEDIA.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 02/25/2011