BENTONVILLE -- Benton County's justices of the peace were presented with about $1.4 million in personnel requests Tuesday, with nearly $1 million coming from the Benton County Sheriff's Office.
The request from the Sheriff's Office was one part of the personnel requests presented to the Personnel Committee for review. Other offices asking for new personnel or changes to positions include the county judge, collector, assessor, county clerk, prosecutor, circuit clerk and public defender.
County budget
Benton County’s Personnel Committee will meet again at 6 p.m. Oct. 9 to review changes to the employment and salary administration policy. The committee will also continue work on the personnel requests in advance of sending their recommendations on to the county’s Budget Committee as part of the 2018 budget.
Source: Staff report
The list of requests is posted on the public meetings dashboard on the county's website at www.bentoncountyar.gov.
Brenda Guenther, comptroller, said the cost for the changes is about $1.4 million, with about $217,000 coming from the commissioned account funds of the collector and assessor. According to Guenther, Assessor Roderick Grieve and Justice of the Peace Shirley Sandlin, those offices receive money from the revenue generated by work and only draw on the general fund for about 10 percent of their cost.
The Sheriff's Office and jail were the largest requests, with Sheriff Shawn Holloway saying the office needs eight more patrol deputies to handle the increasing volume of calls and the growing crime rate. He said the jail is chronically understaffed and needs another eight jailers. Holloway also is asking for two transport deputies.
"We are stretched to the max on all of our operations and in the jail." Holloway said.
Holloway told the justices of the peace the number of calls for service has grown from about 27,000 in 2014 to more than 52,000 in 2016 For 2017, he said, the number of calls is on a pace to top 60,000.
"It's not going to get any better," Holloway said. "It's just going to get busier and busier."
The requests from the prosecutor's office and the public defenders office mirrored Holloway's assessment of the growth in workload as it relates to their offices. The prosecutor is seeking one legal secretary to support two deputy prosecutors authorized by the state. The cost to the county is about $45,000. The public defenders office is seeking to add one deputy public defender and adjust the salary range for deputies in the office. The cost was put at about $80,000.
Prosecutor Nathan Smith said his office has seen the number of felony cases increase yearly, with about 2,000 felony cases in 2015 and around 2,300 in 2016.
"For 2017 we're on pace for the year to hit 2,500," Smith said. "There's nothing in our past trends that indicates we're not going to grow."
NW News on 09/27/2017