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JEFFERSON CO. OFFICIALS EYE PROPOSED $12.5M BUDGET

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 11:37 PM CST

A proposed 2010 budget for Jefferson County that calls for spending almost $12.5 million will require some work before a final vote by the Jefferson County Quorum Court.

The budget was scheduled to be discussed by committees of the county’s legislative body Tuesday night, but a late afternoon decision by County Judge Mike Holcomb and the chairmen of the judicial and public safety/emergency services committees postponed discussion on two agencies which were scheduled to receive significant increases in their budgets next year.

Under the original proposal, only the Sixth Division of Circuit Court (juvenile court), which is the responsibility of the judicial committee, and the sheriff’s department, which is the responsibility of the public safety/emergency services committee, were slated to see huge increases in their budgets next year.

More than one-quarter of the proposed 2010 budget was allocated to the sheriff’s department, just over $2,540,000, with much of those funds allocated to salaries and benefits for deputies.

The proposed budget called for raises of roughly $3,000 for deputies, a figure Holcomb said was more than what some members of the quorum court were willing to accept right now.

Dr. Herman Ginger, chairman of the public safety/emergency services committee, asked that the sheriff’s budget be tabled “for further study,” a request agreed to by other committee members.

“I know what he’s (Sheriff Gerald Robinson) trying to do with the budget and that’s get his department in line with other departments,” Holcomb said. “We want to help the sheriff but I was thinking more about $1,500 (raises), especially since we’ve asked the other elected officials to hold the line until after the first quarter of next year and we can see what the revenue is going to look like.”

Holcomb explained the challenge in keeping staff at the sheriff’s department, saying Pine Bluff has a large police department, the city of White Hall pays officers more than deputies and the Arkansas Department of Correction is looking to hire experienced people.

“Nobody else in the state has the problems we have and our challenge is to keep the people we’ve got,” he said. “For example, if we lose a deputy sheriff, it costs us about $3,000 to replace that person unless we can find an officer that is already certified.”

Also tabled by the committee was a proposed budget for district court which called for expenditures of $172,546, the same amount as the 2009 budget.

Holcomb said the county will take over the expenses for the district court in March, when the new court building is expected to open, so that budget doesn’t have to be approved “until next year.”

Also tabled for further study was a nearly three-quarters of a million ($754,010) proposed budget for juvenile court, but Holcomb said he expected that figure to be “tweaked a bit also.”

Justice of the Peace Ted Harden, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he had visited with Juvenile Judge Earnest Brown Jr. and “most of the issues have been worked out” but requested that the budget be tabled until later.

As with the sheriff’s department, a large percentage of the increase was devoted to salaries and benefits for employees, particularly probation officers with proposed raises ranging from $1,500 to $5,000.

Also tabled for further study was a proposed budget for the Junior Deputy program, which included the salary of the director, a member of the sheriff’s department.

Budgets for all the other county offices and departments for next year were essentially the same as the 2009 budgets, and were all recommended for approval by various committees of the county’s legislative body during the meeting Tuesday.

“Our cash flow is pretty good right now but there’s always a degree of uncertainty about what’s going to happen in the future,” Holcomb said. “We’re not saying we’re not going to give our other employees raises but we’re going to look at the first quarter numbers before we make a decision.”

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