Benton County officials eye court building costs

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County officials have several funding options once they decide how to proceed with a new courts building.

The Finance Committee was briefed Thursday on a range of funding methods to chose from if a decision is made to continue with the project. Bob Wright, senior managing director with Crews & Associates presented information on revenue from a range of sales tax rates, property tax millage, and court fines.

What’s Next

Benton County’s Public Safety Committee will continue discussing the location of the county’s proposed new courts building when the panel meets at 6 .m. Monday in the Quorum Courtroom at the County Administration Building, 215 E. Central Ave., in Bentonville.

Source: Staff Report

Tom Allen, justice of the peace for District 4 and committee chairman, said the justices of the peace will continue reviewing options while awaiting a decision on where the project will be located.

The county has been studying proposals for a courts building for the past few years. A study done for the county looked at options for building in downtown Bentonville and on county property near the jail on Southwest 14th Street in Bentonville.

The Public Safety Committee is considering the two locations and plans for housing the circuit court judges, their courtrooms and staffs, the Prosecuting Attorney and Public Defender's offices, the Circuit Clerk and other related offices.

The downtown plan would include renovating the courthouse and the annex building as part of the judicial "campus" to new courts building on Second Street. The Southwest 14th Street plan would shift all of the courts-related offices and functions to the new location and move other county offices into the old courthouse building.

Both projects have estimated construction costs of around $25 million.

The committee also heard a variety of monthly reports, including those tracking spending, showing sales tax revenue for the year, overtime pay, fuel use and money paid to the county by the state for housing state prisoners at the county jail.

The justices of the peace also heard a report from Sheriff Kelley Cradduck detailing his office's activities through 2014 and presenting his goals for 2015.

Cradduck pointed to changes in the jail operation among the major accomplishments.

"By Friday we will be up and running with 32 extra beds that will be reserved for misdemeants only," he said. "I can tell you how long it's going to take for 32 beds to fill up - one day."

Cradduck said the addition of hot meals has decreased disciplinary problems with inmates in the jail.

"We kind of use that as a carrot on a stick," he said, adding that any disciplinary infraction can result in the inmate losing access to hot meals.

"We've seen a dramatic reduction in even threats toward our guards because they truly want those hot meals," he said.

Maj. Shawn Holloway briefed the justices of the peace on trends in different categories of activity in the Sheriff's Office. Calls for service were down, for instance, but arrests were up in many categories. Holloway said growth in jail population accounted for part of the change and also said the sheriff's office was being more proactive.

The presentation shifted to a discussion of gang activity in the county. Holloway said the gang database system the Sheriff's Office has implemented has helped the office track and monitor gang activity, saying much of the gang-related activity has moved out of the county as a result.

The committee also authorized the county judge to apply for a grant not to exceed $250,000 to establish "zero tolerance" cultures for sexual assault in correctional facilities for the county's juvenile detention center.

NW News on 05/08/2015

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