Benton County Official Says Talk Of Cuts Hurts Morale

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County's justices of the peace were cautioned Thursday about the negative consequences of some of their suggestions about cutting the budget.

The Budget Committee had its first meeting to consider the 2015 budget and took a look at several departments. John Sudduth, general services administrator, said he'd made the cuts requested by the Quorum Court but also said his employees were concerned with suggestions of furloughs or the possible elimination of some positions, specifically the environmental officers he oversees.

Sudduth said he had to deal with "a little bit of a panic situation" after his employees learned their positions had been mentioned specifically in a discussion of possible cuts.

"We had our discussion, and I told them 'It's not the time to fall on your swords,'" he said.

Sudduth said his department has been unable to keep trained and qualified people. He said the planning director recently left and ran down a list of others who have left in recent months. He said the county's costs go up when those people leave. He said the former planning director, Rinkey Singh, saved about $96,000 in consulting costs by doing work in-house the county won't be able to do now.

"We train but we don't retain our employees," he said. "People see the need to get out. There's no future working for Benton County."

"There's no way we're going to get and keep good people when we're talking about furloughing or cutting positions," Sudduth said.

Tom Allen of District 4, chairman of the committee, said justices of the peace have to look at the budget and consider all options. He said the furlough suggestion was made by one justice of the peace and received no support. The talk of cutting positions was made as part of the larger budget discussion, Allen said. Allen said businesses everywhere are cutting costs, not just Benton County.

The Quorum Court is going to debate and discuss every possibility in public," Allen said. "I don't want to hear morale is bad because we're talking about cutting. That's just business."

The justices of the peace want to reduce next year's departmental budgets by 3 percent to provide enough money to offset the cost of rural ambulance service.

The county is asking voters to approve two ambulance funding plans -- a countywide 0.2-mill increase in property taxes and a rural ambulance service district with a $40 per household fee -- at the Nov. 4 general election but have said they will begin work on the budget without relying on revenue from those plans.

If voters approve one or both of the plans, the budget will be adjusted. The millage is estimated to bring in about $834,000 and the fee is expected to provide about $528,000.

The Quorum Court has asked elected officials to leave vacant positions unfilled as much as possible and plans to use the savings to offset the cost of ambulance service in 2014, which has been paid for from reserve and cutting $450,000 from the Road Department budget.

Mike Crandall, accounting manager, said the savings in personnel costs so far this year amount to $357,697. The county also has a voluntary tax dedicated for ambulance service on property tax statements. That tax has brought in $135,346 so far this year, according to information from the County Collector's office.

At Thursday's meeting, the justices of the peace also discussed projected increases in revenue from sales tax and property tax. Allen said he plans to budget for sales tax to be flat and none of the other justices of the peace objected. Allen also said property tax revenue is expected to increase about $1.2 million. Kurt Moore of District 13 said the anticipated increase, plus the 3 percent in budget cuts could allow the county to pay for ambulance service, some capital items and possibly raises for county employees.

"Some of this 3 percent may be coming back to employees in the form of raises," he said. "A little pain for a little gain. It's not for nothing,"