BENTONVILLE -- Benton County's justices of the peace voted unanimously Tuesday to pursue up to $1.1 million in state aid money to help the county update its electronic voting equipment.
The Committee of the Whole voted to draft a resolution declaring the Quorum Court's support for pursuing the state money after a presentation from Kim Dennison, election coordinator.
Dennison told the committee Election Systems & Software, the company chosen by the state to provide electronic voting machines and equipment, agreed to a "lease-purchase" agreement with the county allowing the machines to be paid for in three years, four years or five years. Dennison said the county will be applying to the state for half of the total $2.2 million cost.
Dennison said she has been told as much as $5 million may be available from the governor's office on a first-come, first-served basis, but that is uncertain. Tom Allen, justice of the peace for District 4, said the county needs to pursue the grant money but understands the county may have to bear the whole cost.
"Based on what we've been told, I wouldn't count on us getting any money," Allen said. "We need to pursue it. We need to get it if we can. But if we go forward with this we need to be prepared for the fact we may not get anything. I'm going to recommend going ahead with getting the machines."
Allen added that a recent state law placing school elections on the same days as the primary and general elections makes it more necessary the county update the voting machines.
"These machines won't handle it," Allen said of the expanded ballots needed to include school issues on the primary and general elections. "They don't have enough memory."
Adriane Carr, justice of the peace for District 12, also said the county needs to plan to acquire the new voting equipment with or without the state aid.
"If we get money from the state, that's great," Carr said. "If we don't, we need to have a plan for going forward."
Pat Adams, justice of the peace for District 6, supported pursuing the state grant money, but said he would rather have the county pay for the voting equipment in a single payment rather than over time. Adams said the cost to the county would be less if the equipment is purchased in a single payment.
"Why throw away 3 or 4 percent of the cost," Adams said of the cost of financing the purchase over time. "If there's no money from the governor, we can take it from our reserves."
Allen said he's wary of taking too much money from the county's reserves, which he estimated at $13.5 million. He said he's going to support using from $7 million to $9 million from the reserves for the proposed new courts building.
"If we cut a check for this other stuff, it reduces the amount we can put toward the courthouse," Allen said.
NW News on 05/10/2017