Benton County begins budget work

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County officials working on the 2017 budget say they plan to begin with modest increases in supplies and other services, but keep spending on personnel, capital equipment and other big ticket items flat.

"To start with, salaries are going to be flat once again," said Tom Allen, justice of the peace and chairman of the Finance Committee. "We've talked about giving the elected officials and department heads some direction on other costs, giving them a number to stay within."

County budget

Benton County officials plan to have a preliminary 2017 budget completed by Oct. 10. The Finance Committee will review that budget for the next 30 days and make a recommendation to the Quorum Court, which will approve the final budget in December.

Source: Benton County

Brenda Guenther, comptroller, said personnel requests are due to be turned in today and initial budget requests turned in by Sept. 9. Some already had been submitted while others have not, she said Thursday. Elected officials and department heads were asked to limit increases in budget lines to 3 percent or less. Personnel costs will be determined separately, Guenther said. Requests for new positions and reorganizations will be reviewed the last week in September. The Personnel Committee will consider those requests the first week in October.

Shirley Sandlin, justice of the peace and chairman of the Personnel Committee, said she would put pay increases for existing employees as her priority, but acknowledged there will be competing demands for money.

"There will never be enough raises," Sandlin said. Elected officials and department heads have to decide if they want another warm body and ask for a new position or have current employees work a little harder and give them a bump in pay, she said.

The county has several projects pending -- a new courts building, repairs to War Eagle Bridge and new voting equipment among them -- that will be costly, but shouldn't directly impact the 2017 budget, Allen said.

"Those won't be expense items on a monthly basis," Allen said. "Whatever we pay for them next year is probably going to come from our reserves or the capital projects fund. The only budget impact will be how much money do we take out of next year's budget to put into reserves."

Guenther estimates the county will end this year with about $2.5 million in the capital projects fund, which is set aside for larger construction projects. The county keeps a restricted reserve fund for emergencies, in compliance with state law, that will be around $7 million, she said. The county's reserves above and beyond the statutory requirement should be around $13 million to $14 million at the end of this year, Guenther said.

Barry Moehring, justice of the peace, said he will view the budget process from two perspectives. Moehring is giving up his seat on the Quorum Court and is the Republican Party candidate for county judge in the November general election. He will face Ronnie L. Smith, the Libertarian Party candidate, and Jeff Broadston, a write-in candidate.

"My primary role will be to continue to address the budget as a JP and as a member of the Finance Committee," Moehring said. "That being said, I'll certainly have an interest in the budget for the county judge since that is something I may have to deal with next year."

Moehring said it's too early for him to set priorities. He wants more information on personnel issues, capital requests and county revenue projections. He wants to factor information from other sectors of the local economy when considering pay raises.

"I believe our employees need to be taken care of, but whatever we do has to be done in the context of what's happening in other markets," he said. "Once we get that information I'll have a better idea of what our priorities should be. It's kind of early to comment until we have that information. I will say that in Benton County, compared to most of the rest of the state, we get to deal with some good problems. We are generally in pretty good shape from a financial state."

Allen hopes to streamline the budget process this year, cutting down on the length of meetings even if it means increasing the number of meetings.

"I know nobody from the public wants to sit through three- and four-hour meetings," Allen said. "I also think the JPs, and the elected officials and department heads will be more productive if we can limit the meetings to about two hours."

NW News on 08/26/2016

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