BENTONVILLE -- Benton County's justices of the peace agreed to ask for help with voter education material on the rural ambulance funding proposals.
The Quorum Court's Committee of the Whole agreed to use the University of Arkansas' Cooperative Extension Service to prepare information sheets on the two ambulance funding plans voters will consider Nov. 4. The justices of the peace also said they plan to use social media to promote a series of town hall meetings and provide links to information on the county website.
At A Glance
Committee Action
Benton County’s Committee of the Whole met Tuesday and approved:
• An application for $300,000 in federal Surface Transportation Program-Attributable money to repair the War Eagle Bridge. The county’s share of the project, if money is approved, is $60,000.
• Spending $98, 704 to waterproof the exterior of the Sheriff’s Office as the first step to repair mold in the walls of the building.
• Spending $44,000 for the fall cleanup event, scheduled for Oct. 11.
• Spending $22,082 from the Juvenile Detention Facility Supplemental Grant for staff to study juvenile detention facilities in California and Oregon.
Source: Staff Report
"We've got less than 60 day now," said Brent Meyers of District 14. "I don't think we can get enough information out there. It's going to kill our budget if we don't get something passed."
Barry Moehring of District 15 said the county needs a strategy for the informational effort.
"Right now, we've got no coordinated plan," Moehring said. "We've got no budget, no Facebook page and no twitter feed."
The county is asking voters to approve two plans to pay part of the cost of ambulance servicein unincorporated areas. One proposal would levy a county millage increase of 0.2 mills, which was estimated to raise $833,000 annually.
The second proposal, to form an emergency medical services district and impose a $40 per household fee, would raise about $527,000 a year. The county is paying the seven cities that provide rural ambulance service about $942,000 this year.
The justices of the peace agreed to ask the County Clerk's Office to coordinate the town halls and other informational meetings and post the information on the county website.
The committee also tabled a vote on a proposal from the Benton County Sheriff 's Office to allow deputies to write tickets for a list of traffic offenses regulated by state law.
Chief Deputy Rob Holly first briefed the justices of the peace about the proposal Aug. 11 during a meeting of the Legislative Committee. That committee voted to send the proposal on for discussion Tuesday. No one from the Sheriff's Office attended Tuesday's meeting.
George Spence, county attorney, drafted the proposal based on one adopted by Rogers. The ordinance includes 10 offenses under the category of careless and prohibited driving. The draft sets fines of up to $250 for each offense. State law carries a fine of up to $100 for similar violations.
Spence said his research indicates citations written under a county ordinance would be reported in the same way as offenses under state law. When the ordinance was first proposed, Holly said an advantage to the county ordinance was tickets might not be reported on a driver's record, sparing them potential increases in insurance costs.
Spence said that may have been true in the past but not now.
"I've been told all of these are now reported to driver control," Spence said.
Spence also said court costs and fines are distributed according to fixed formulas in the courts hearing the cases and the county is unlikely to realize any more revenue.
"Over time, I don't think it would have any financial impact," Spence said.
Several justices of the peace said they disliked the idea of deputies writing tickets for offenses covered by state law if the only difference would be to divert money to the county.
"To me, this whole thing becomes 'Let's write tickets and get money in the county treasury.'" Meyers said.
Other justices of the peace said they favored the idea if it could bring revenue to the county or aid drivers, but not otherwise.
"Since we don't have the option of keeping it off driver's records and we're not going to get any more money from it, I don't see any reason for it," said Tom Allen of District 4.
The proposal was withdrawn from consideration after Tuesday's discussion. Kevin Harrison, sponsor , said he'll check with the Sheriff's Office to see if they still favor the ordinance in light of Spence's findings and report back to the Quorum Court.
NW News on 09/10/2014