FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington County's justices of the peace on Tuesday endorsed a 2020 budget with 2% raises for most employees, an increase several elected officials and department heads said isn't enough.
The Finance and Budget Committee sent on to the Quorum Court a budget with 2% raises for most employees. Some employees who received raises in 2019 will not be eligible for the 2020 increase. The proposed budget also included several new employees, but cut in half -- from 16 to 8 -- the request for new employees from Sheriff Tim Helder.
What’s next
Washington County’s Quorum Court will vote on the 2020 budget when it meets at 6 p.m. Nov. 21 in the County Courthouse, 280 N. College Ave. in Fayetteville.
Source: Staff report
Helder told the justices of the peace he recognized the tough decisions they have to make, but said after the meeting he will ask them to reconsider their decisions when the Quorum Court meets Nov. 21.
Helder said the 2% raises were sending a signal to employees they aren't valued. He said Benton County has given employees higher raises for 2020 and the Fayetteville Police Department has announced a "lateral transfer" policy that could tempt his employees to consider leaving.
"The 2%, I'm not going to thumb my nose at it," Helder said. "Is it enough? I'm going to argue that it's not."
Carl Gales, chief of staff to County Judge Joseph Wood, said Road Department employees just spent a night working in below freezing temperatures to keep residents safe and are being paid wages below comparable jobs in the construction or transportation industries. He said the Road Department is constantly losing people the private sector.
"Look at what you're offering our people," Gales said. "You're telling them they're only worth 2%. Please reconsider."
Circuit Clerk Kyle Sylvester told the justices of the peace people in his office and other offices can leave and get bigger increases than they can by staying with the county.
"The 2%, thank you for that, but it's not enough," Sylvester said. "If people are leaving for 15 cents an hour more, 25 cents or 30 cents an hour, you just lost valuable people who make this county run."
The committee on Tuesday also approved setting the 2019 property tax rates for the county and for cities and school districts in the county. The property taxes will be collected in 2020. Setting the millage rates must be approved every year by the Quorum Court in November or December. The rates are unchanged from 2018 to 2019 with the General Fund millage set at 4.4 mills, the Road Fund at 1.1 mills and the County Library at 1.0 mills.
Ann Harbison, justice of the peace for District 14 and chairman of the committee, suggested the Quorum Court should consider increasing the general fund millage.
"We're having a census in 2020 which means we're going to lose some money," Harbison said.
The county's 1% sales tax is distributed among the county and the cities in Washington County based on their share of the population. Harbison suggested increasing the general fund property tax millage by 0.2 mills from 4.4 mills. She said that would generate about $600,000 a year.
"That would close the gap in the amount of money we're going to lose in the census," Harbison said.
The committee took no action on Harbison's suggestion to increase the tax rate.
Also Tuesday, the committee approved spending $860,840 in grant money received from the state to offset operating costs in the Crisis Stabilization Unit. The unit is one of four in Arkansas run to test the benefits of trying to divert individuals with mental health problems away from the criminal justice system. Law enforcement officers are trained to evaluate people they come into contact with and may recommend those in need of mental health services for admission to the unit.
NW News on 11/13/2019