Pulaski County's $144.67 million budget for the 2018 calendar year was approved Tuesday by the Quorum Court in a quick, unanimous vote.
The Quorum Court's eight-person budget committee, led by Donna Massey, met four times in October for a little over two hours total to knock out next year's budget.
"I tell y'all every time I come in here ... we're in really good shape financially, and we are," Comptroller Mike Hutchens told the committee at the first meeting Oct. 4.
"What we know right now is you can cover this budget," he added.
At subsequent meetings, representatives from county departments that wanted budget increases explained to the committee why they needed more money.
About 19 of the 52 county departments funded through the general fund -- the county's largest funding source -- asked for budget increases to cover expenses other than employee retirement.
The Pulaski County Election Commission made the biggest request.
The commission requested an increase from its 2017 budget of $1.06 million to $1.92 million for 2018. The roughly $865,300 boost is to pay for midterm election costs.
"If we had not had an increase in the Election Commission ... we'd have been less than what we were the year before," Hutchens said in reference to the total budget.
All other requested funding increases were smaller than the Election Commission's, most by a large margin.
The Pulaski County juvenile detention department requested an additional $13,341 to pay for retirement costs, new uniforms and added counseling services.
The public defender's office asked for an additional $10,976 to secure a faster Internet connection and pay for parking and travel expenses.
Gerone Hobbs, Pulaski County's coroner, told Quorum Court members his $54,652 increase is to pay for three new vehicles as well as "piece together" the older models.
Those individual requests were approved piecemeal by the budget committee with relative ease.
About half of the county's money, $73.4 million, is appropriated through the general fund. That fund supports county departments such as planning and development, the comptroller's office and County Judge Barry Hyde's office.
Overall, money appropriated to the general fund increased by about $700,900 from 2017's budget to 2018's.
Next to the general fund, the road and bridge fund has the most money appropriated at $20.3 million.
About 30 smaller shares, such as $5.2 million to the sanitation fund, comprise the rest of the budget, not including $7.45 million given out through dozens of grants.
Grants are down about $1.8 million from last year's $9.3 million, Hutchens told the budget committee. Over the years, grant funds have fluctuated between as low as $3 million and as high as $11 million, he said.
Under state law, the county must keep at least 10 percent of each funding source on reserve.
For example, the assessor's fund has $7.82 million available for appropriation, based on current budget projections. Under the ordinance, about $781,800 was kept on reserve, while $6.9 million was actually appropriated.
Unlike previous years, the 2018 budget cycle took into account employee pay raise recommendations that stemmed from a competitive salary study.
The Johanson Group examined the county's roughly 1,085 full-time positions and broke them down into 314 job descriptions, ranking them on factors such as education and experience.
Jobs that ranked higher are called "unclassified" positions. The vast majority of county jobs are in a lower tier, called "classified" positions.
The average unclassified county employee is paid 18 percent behind a market average salary, called a "midpoint," the firm found. Classified positions are paid about 10.6 percent below, the study says.
Based on these findings, the Johanson Group recommended increasing salaries for 57 county employees whose pay doesn't approach their market minimum.
For 960 county employees whose current pay is below their midpoint, the firm recommended a 2 percent raise. For 67 county employees paid above their midpoint but less than the maximum salary, a 1 percent raise was suggested.
Three employees who were already paid above their maximum won't see a raise but will get a one-time payment worth 1 percent of their salary.
Those pay maneuvers were factored into the budget ordinance, approved Tuesday by the 15-member Quorum Court. In the long term, the firm recommended that Pulaski County alter its entire pay structure.
Metro on 11/29/2017