BENTONVILLE — A group of about 20 employees of the Benton County Road Department made an appeal Tuesday to the county’s justices of the peace, seeking a 7 percent raise for 2013.
The employees attended the regular monthly meeting of the Benton County Quorum Court and spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting. Five of the employees spoke during the meeting.
At A Glance
Benton County Quorum Court
In its regular business meeting Tuesday, the Benton County Quorum Court approved:
-A resolution authorizing the county judge to apply for a grant on behalf of the Northeast Benton County Fire Department.
-A resolution authorizing the county judge to apply for a grant to help the Benton County Circuit Courts set up a mediation program.
-The appointment of Rick Williams to the Benton County Planning Board.
-The reappointment of Dan Douglas to the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport Authority’s board of directors.
-An ordinance levying the 2012 property tax millage for the county, the cities, school districts and special tax unit in Benton County to be collected in 2013.
-An ordinance transferring $7,500 in the Benton County Sheriff’s Office 2012 budget to match money received under the Internet Crimes Against Children grant program.
-An ordinance transferring $11,817 in the Benton County Sheriff’s Office 2012 budget to pay for overtime accrued in serving warrants.
Source: Staff Report
The Quorum Court’s Budget Committee completed its work on the county’s 2013 last week. That budget, which includes a 2 percent raise for county employees, is set to go on to the Finance Committee, Committee of 13 and the Quorum Court for final approval in December.
Cindy Jones told the justices of the peace the road department has saved the county about $2.8 million in 2012 by doing more paving work in-house, compared to the cost of having it done by contractors. Jones showed the justices of the peace a slide show detailing some of the paving work done, work on bridges and other projects.
Jack Brown, assistant superintendent with the Road Department, said the department has weathered many changes in the past year and is doing more work at a higher level.
Vernon Bazey, who said he will have been with the Road Department for 31 years in March, echoed Brown’s observations.
“I’ve seen a lot of changes in the Road Department this last year,” Bazey said. “They’ve all been positive.”
Bazey invited the justices of the peace to go out with department employees and look at the work being done for themselves.
“The guys out at the Road Department are proud of what they’re doing,” he said.
Justice of the Peace Kurt Moore started to ask questions during the public comment period, but was reminded the Quorum Court’s rules don’t allow that. He said later he thought the request was unwarranted.
“If we hadn’t given them any raise, I would expect this and it would’ve been understandable.” Moore said. “As it is, I felt this was kind of unfair. Yes, we all want more, but the budget only allowed for a certain amount.”
Justice of the Peace Tom Allen is chairman of the Finance Committee, which doubles as the budget committee. Allen said he was surprised by the request.
“The 5 percent surprised me. I don’t know of anybody in the United States who’s getting that much of a raise,” Allen said. “I do appreciate the hard work they’ve done. They’ve had a great year. But it was hard to come up with the 2 percent. In years past we’ve not given any raises and waited until mid-year to see if we can do anything. We didn’t do that this year.”
Allen pointed out that the Budget Committee made cuts in the budget requests to make money available for the 2 percent raises.
“We cut all of the Sheriff’s Office patrol units,” he said. “That’s a pretty serious public safety issue.”
The justices of the peace did not discuss the request for raises during the Quorum Court meeting and no action was taken.