Benton County Officials Ask For Budget Cuts

— Benton County's justices of the peace will look to cut other county departments' budgets to pay for rural ambulance service through the end of this year.

The Finance Committee has asked elected officials to review their budgets for possible cuts and to attend Tuesday's meeting for the ambulance discussion.

MEETING INFORMATION

Finance Committee

The Finance Committee of the Benton County Quorum Court is set to discuss rural ambulance funding and other issues when the committee holds its regular monthly meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Quorum Courtroom at the County Administration Building, 215 E. Central Ave. in Bentonville.

The county initially budgeted $236,000 for rural ambulance service in 2014 while a vote on a funding plan was pending. The justices of the peace agreed to take $450,000 from the Road Department's asphalt budget and use that money for ambulance service after voters rejected a proposed emergency medical services district and $85 annual fee in February.

The county still needs to find about $256,000 to pay for ambulance service for the remainder of the year.

County Judge Bob Clinard said he had no problem reviewing the budgets under his office, but he wasn't certain any cuts will be found.

"I'm going to ask my administrators to go over their budgets to see if they can find anything," Clinard said. "If they can, they can. If there's nothing, there's nothing."

There was money available from personnel savings that could be used instead of cutting budgets, Clinard said.

Sarah Wilson, county comptroller, said, through the end of March, the county has $85,658 in money budgeted for personnel that has not been spent. The money was for positions that have not been filled or have been vacant for part of the year, and the money will not be used if the positions are filled later in the year, Wilson said. The county could use the money if there is an emergency.

Rob Holly, chief deputy with the Sheriff's Office, said that department already is operating on a tight budget as the Quorum Court directed during the budget process last fall.

"I feel like we've kind of cut things to the bone as it is," Holly said. "These are exigent circumstances we're in, and I think it's time they really look into the reserves. That money is there for a reason, and I think having ambulance service is a good use of that money. Looking at our budget and knowing what's coming, fuel prices haven't started going up yet. We're fully staffed for the first time in a long time, and I'd like to keep it that way. It makes it easier on everybody. I do not know where we could possibly make cuts. We're running tight as it is."

County Clerk Tena O'Brien also said her budget was cut last fall as the justices of the peace requested. She said she might realize some savings from closing the Siloam Springs branch office and transferring that employee to Bentonville. Closing that office would save the county about $18,000 but would also reduce the level of services to county residents, O'Brien said.

"I'll have to look at the number of marriage licenses and DBAs (Doing Business As certificates for businesses) we issue over there every month," she said.

Tom Allen, justice of the peace for District 4 and chairman of the Finance Committee, said he would consider taking money from the county's reserve fund now to settle the issue with the understanding it be repaid from personnel savings at the end of the year. Allen said he's not sure the county can depend on personnel savings to cover the additional $256,000 needed so he would rather wait before making that choice. The money already allocated to ambulance service will more than cover the county's payments for the first two quarters of the year.

"That doesn't come in on a consistent basis so I don't know how you can project a trend," Allen said of the savings in personnel.

Barry Moehring, justice of the peace for District 15, said he opposes any use of the county's reserve for ambulance funding. He said the possibility of using the savings from personnel does have merit.

"I have two thoughts on that," Moehring said. "First, I'm still pretty adamant about not taking it out of reserves. Second, the last discussion I had with Sarah on this, it appeared that, through normal attrition, by the middle of the year we may have enough money from personnel to cover the EMS. I'm pretty confident we can find it through that. That, to me, seems like a pretty painless way to get from here to there."

Kurt Moore, justice of the peace for District 13, said he opposes taking money from the reserve or depending on savings from money budgeted for personnel but not spent. Moore said he will push for the Quorum Court to go ahead with making budget cuts. A special budget meeting already has been scheduled for April 22 if the committee decides to pursue budget cuts.

"I can tell you the court's feelings on that," Moore said. "The majority of the court wants to take it out of the budget, not out of reserve. That's been made abundantly clear."

NW News on 03/31/2014

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