Washington County justices of the peace begin budget work

The Washington County Courthouse is seen in Fayetteville in this file photo.
(File photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/STACY RYBURN)
The Washington County Courthouse is seen in Fayetteville in this file photo. (File photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/STACY RYBURN)

FAYETTEVILLE -- Washington County's justices of the peace were briefed Tuesday on the budget process and told work will begin on budget in July.

The Quorum Court's Finance & Budget Committee heard a brief presentation from Shannon Worthen, county comptroller, on the format he'll use in presenting the 2022 budget. Worthen gave the justices of the peace examples of different elements of the budget, including a single page showing overall revenue and expenditures for the county. Worthen also explained how individual departmental budgets will be presented.

Patrick Deakins, justice of the peace for District 5 in northeastern Washington County, is chairman of the Finance & Budget Committee. Deakins said the deadline for department heads and elected officials to turn in their budget requests is June 11. Worthen will then compile those individual budgets into one overall budget for the county.

"We'll get those out to you as quickly as we can," Deakins said of the budgets. "I want to start budget meetings in August or September. I'd like to have a full budget to the Quorum Court by October."

Worthen said the budgets will be available in a printed format and accessible on line as well. He said he'll update the online versions throughout the budget process, which raised questions from some justices of the peace.

Lance Johnson, justice of the peace for District 1 in Springdale, said he wanted any changes from the original budgets to be clearly presented in the electronic format.

"How do the JPs know what's changed?" Johnson asked. "That's a concern of mine, just to keep track of it. We need to have a way to keep track of the changes or else we're just spinning our wheels."

Bill Ussery, justice of the Peace for District 4 in Springdale, echoed Johnson's concerns and said any changes should be listed separately in each new version of the budget.

"We need something that says 'Here's the new one and these are the changes we've made.'" Ussery said.

Also Tuesday, the committee recommended using about $71,186 in additional money from $4.5 million in CARES Act money to pay for bonuses approved last month for employees at the Washington County Detention Center and the Juvenile Detention Center who worked in those facilities throughout the covid-19 pandemic.

According to the proposal, the extra money is needed to cover two employees who were left out of the original calculation and to cover taxes and retirement costs.

Deakins said the original amount of $297,895 for the bonuses was just wrong.

"It was an error and omission," Deakins said. "It was just a mistake."

Upcoming Events