Washington County Quorum Court raises budget, delays final vote

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Washington County Quorum Court scrutinized, again, Tuesday individual budgets and tried to shave money from next year's budget -- and then approved spending more money.

"We haven't made the hard decisions," said Justice of the Peace Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville. "We've nearly acquiesced to everyone's request."

At a Glance

Justices of the peace decided Tuesday not to cut money from the 2016 budget and to add $150,000 on top of the roughly $63 million expected expenditures. A final vote on the budget could happen as early as Thursday.

Source: Staff Report

Justices approved spending $150,000 for a fiber line to connect county properties during a special meeting Tuesday. The move should speed up internet access and improve communication between departments, said John Adams, Information Systems director.

The first reading of $63 million budget was tabled late Tuesday. Justice of the Peace Eva Madison, D-Fayetteville, said she wanted the budget tabled, partly, because the Quorum Court just raised the budget again. She wanted residents to have a chance to talk to lawmakers before the budget passed, possibly Thursday.

Justice looked Tuesday at cutting money from the election commission, Ozark Regional Transit and the University of Arkansas Extension Service.

The Election Commission was approved to spend around $420,000 on 324 new touch screen voting machines. The commission is trying to prepare for around 80,000 voters expected to go to the polls this November, said Jennifer Price, election coordinator.

Justices of the peace considered cutting Ozark Regional Transit's money from $125,000 to about $25,000 Tuesday. Without that money, one rural route that started this year wouldn't be able to continue, said Joel Gardner, executive director.

That route connects West Fork, Greenland, Farmington, Prairie Grove and Lincoln but also allows people to transfer to other routes in the system.

No agency was cut during Tuesday's meeting.

Only one proposal, an increase request from the information department, passed.

Adams said other proposals would save the county about $1 million long term failed. That included a request for two new employees and for a back-up storage system for documents.

Without more employees, the department cannot build its own software programs for departments, Director John Adams said. The move means the county wouldn't have to outsource software needs, he said.

Without an additional back-up system, officials must decide by June what documents will not be backed up, Adams said.

Adams said the back-up system that duplicates and stores files in case something happens is 80 percent full, Adams said.

Sue Madison said the county should be trying to save money and rebuild its reserves in case of emergency.

"It's simply a matter of county funding and what our goals should be as (justices of the peace)," Madison said.

Expenditure requests outpace expected revenue by about $2 million, Treasurer Bobby Hill said. The county has about $6 million in the general fund's unappropriated reserve, not county money the state requires the county to set aside, according to a budget summer.

The Quorum Court can pass a final budget Thursday, during the regular Quorum Court meeting, if 10 justices decide to, County Attorney Steve Zega said. A budget must be passed by the end of December, he said.

But, justices can also decide to make cuts, too, Eva Madison said.

NW News on 11/18/2015

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