Benton County justices continue on 2019 budget

The Benton County Courthouse.
The Benton County Courthouse.

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County justices of the peace are nearing the end of working on the 2019 budget.

The budget committee for the Benton County Quorum Court met Monday to continue its work on the budget.

Brenda Guenther, the county's comptroller, told the committee that there is currently $207,000 surplus in next year's $55 million budget.

The justices voted to move the budget to the Committee of the Whole meeting at 6 p.m. Nov. 13 instead of discussing it at a finance meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday.

The budget committee approved 3 percent merit raises for employees, but the raises will not be for employees who are currently paid at the maximum levels.

Guenther said the county has 20 or 21 employees who have reached the maximum level in regard to their salaries. Those employees' salaries will be reviewed next year.

Tom Allen, who chairs the budget committee, recommended that elected officials be allowed to give up to 5 percent increases. The committee voted to approved the request.

The budget committee approved the $90,020 for an additional deputy and van that will be used for a work crew dedicated for misdemeanor prisoners.

Sheriff Shawn Holloway hopes the work crew will help with jail overcrowding.

Holloway previously told the committee that when the jail gets overcrowded the first thing the office does is release people serving misdemeanor sentences. The new work details would be for misdemeanor prisoners who would pick up litter or do other jobs. The misdemeanor inmates would work, and then at the end of the day go home, Holloway said.

The Sheriff's Office also will get a body scanner for $175,000, but the money will come from an account from the jail instead of the general fund.

The proposed 2019 budget also includes $100,000 for the Sheriff's Office to be beef up the part-time division. Holloway wants to hire 30 part-time deputies, who are certified law enforcement officers from other departments who need additional work.

The committee also approved new personnel requests, which included another deputy prosecutor for the Benton County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

The committee approved $2,592,000 in capital requests from the road department. The department will receive four graders, and four dump trucks along with several other pieces of equipment. The department has estimated the county will receive $735,000 from the sale of old equipment.

Allen commended the elected officials for their work on the budget. "Hats off to all of you guys," Allen said. "You are one of the reasons that it went so smoothly."

Holloway said they will know the amount in their budgets by late November so he wanted permission to order new vehicles for the Sheriff's Office in December instead of waiting until January. The Sheriff's Office is getting eight Tahoes and seven Chargers in the 2019 budget.

Holloway said he wanted to get ahead of the line because many agencies place their orders in January.

"I'm hoping if we do it in December then we will get the vehicles by the spring instead of the summer of fall," Holloway said.

NW News on 11/06/2018

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