BENTONVILLE -- Benton County's justices of the peace agreed Monday they want officials to keep their 2019 budget requests flat, while allowing for 2 percent employee raises.
The Quorum Court's Finance Committee took an early look Monday at the expected fiscal situation for 2019. Tom Allen, justice of the peace for District 4 and committee chairman, said there are so many questions he prefers to take a cautious approach to budgeting for 2019.
What’s next
Benton County’s Finance Committee instructed Brenda Guenther, comptroller, to ask elected officials to submit 2019 budget requests with zero growth in controllable expenses. The justices of the peace said they will set aside money for raises of 2 percent but the budgets shouldn’t show any increases.
Source: Staff report
"This is an open-ended meeting to talk about everything, all our challenges ahead of us," Allen said. "We're blessed to be in a position where we've got strong revenues, but we've also got some extraordinary expenses ahead of us."
Brenda Guenther, comptroller, gave the committee a briefing on projected revenue and expenses, based on recent trends and the projected economic growth in the region through 2022. Guenther's projections show expenses growing by 2 percent annually while revenue grows by 3 percent.
Guenther told the justices of the peace the county has several large expenses to consider as part of the 2019 budget. Employee raises was one item on that list. Also, the county bought new election equipment in 2018 and will begin next year to repay the $2.5 million borrowed for the voting machines. The Sheriff's Office and the Emergency Management Agency have also been looking at a new radio system, with an estimated cost of $4 million to $5 million.
Kurt Moore, justice of the peace for District 13, said he wants to see a budget with no increases in controllable spending, with the exception of 2 percent set aside for employee raises. The details of the raises, whether they will be cost-of-living raises, merit raises or a combination, will be set during the budget deliberation this fall. Moore said it appears revenue will grow by about 4 percent from 2018 to 2019.
"We'll have to take that pot of money and figure out how to handle raises, new employees and capital,"Moore said. "Those are the big three."
Guenther said the Quorum Court also needs to begin developing a plan to deal with the results of the 2020 federal census, which is expected to reduce the county's revenue from sources where the money is distributed on a per capita basis -- such as the one percent sales tax. After the 2010 census the county's share of sales tax revenue dropped from around 28 percent to less than 20 percent.
Guenther also said the reserve fund is continuing to grow. The county is required by state law to keep a reserve equal to 10 percent of the overall budget. For Benton County that means the reserve in 2018 is about $8.5 million. If money from the reserve is spent in an emergency, the county must replenish it within a year.
The county has other money in reserve, set aside by the justices of the peace during the budget process, which can be spent at the Quorum Court's discretion. For 2018, that's about $14.3 million.
Joel Edwards, justice of the peace for District 15, questioned the Quorum Court's insistence on keeping the unappropriated reserve so large. Moore said in his time on the Quorum Court the county has never used statutory reserve to cover emergency costs. Edwards said the county will be reimbursed by the state and federal governments in the event of the kind of major emergencies the statutory reserve is meant for. He said the county should consider using the unappropriated reserve to avoid borrowing.
"I don't want us to borrow $6 million for a radio system just to preserve a reserve fund," he said. "I guarantee we're the only county in the state paying for emergencies out of reserves. We're trying to keep that magic number really, really high."
Also, the justices of the peace discussed the proposed courts building and the financing plan expected to be put to a vote in March. If voters approve the plan, which includes a temporary sales tax to provide part of the money, the county will begin making expenditures on the $30 million building in 2019.
NW News on 07/31/2018