CONWAY -- The Faulkner County Quorum Court on Tuesday narrowly defeated a proposal calling for a special election to reallocate tax revenue to finance raises for employees in the sheriff's office.
The vote was 6-7.
The proposal would have set the election for June 9 and was aimed at funding raises previously approved by the Quorum Court.
Since 1999, the county has allocated half of the revenue from a 0.5 percent sales tax to the county road department and half to criminal justice needs. The measure rejected Tuesday night would have changed the split to 65 percent for criminal justice and 35 percent for the road department.
Sheriff Andy Shock said the raises were for all of the sheriff's office's 172 employees except himself. The sums varied but averaged roughly $3,000, he said. The money for this year's raises has been appropriated, but Shock said he's worried about funding the raises in 2016.
"This [decision] could possibly cause us to close sections of our jail" and have layoffs, Shock said after the vote. "I will do everything I can to prevent that from happening.
"They have dealt me close to an unplayable hand," he said.
Reallocation would bring in a projected $1.2 million more than the $4 million the sheriff's office now gets each year from the tax, Shock said.
Opponents of the reallocated revenue cited significant road work needed in the county as well as upcoming construction projects that would require substantial road funding.
"Diminishing the funding for" road construction projects "is asinine," Justice of the Peace Dan Thessing said.
Some other justices of the peace mentioned roads that needed work, especially after bad winter weather, and County Judge Jim Baker said he'd end up having to ask the Quorum Court for more road money.
Supporters of of reallocation said the raises were needed to put sheriff's office salaries in line with similar-sized counties in Arkansas.
Shock said he's already cut the department's food expenses by 50 percent and has "done everything I can do to cut back. ... What it boils down to is [that] having so many inmates has crushed us."
State Desk on 03/18/2015