BENTONVILLE — Benton County officials offered area legislators a 2013 agenda that would - if adopted - abolish special elections and repeal a 50-year-old law that apportions the county’s road tax.

In a 90-minute meeting Monday morning, members of the Benton County Quorum Court’s Legislative Committee detailed the county’s current list of priorities for the state Legislature’s 2013 regular session. The Legislature meets in regular session in odd-numbered years and holds fiscal or budgetary sessions in even-numbered years. State Sen. Cecile Bledsoe of Rogers attended the meeting, along with state Representatives Tim Summers of Bentonville, Mary Lou Slinkard of Gravette and Debra Hobbs of Rogers.

Committee chairman Dan Douglas, a candidate for the District 91 seat in the state House of Representatives, told the legislators the meeting was “informal” and meant to promote the discussion of issues between county government officials and state lawmakers.

“As we go through the year we find things that affect our county government operations,” Douglas said. “These issues can only be solved through our Legislature in Little Rock.”

Douglas said he knows the questions can’t be raised during the budgetary session this year, but the necessary advance work can begin.

County Attorney George Spence prepared sample bills on five topics, some of which he characterized as “home rule” bills for Arkansas counties.

Two of the measures would give county governments powers already possessed by cities or school districts in regard to bidding requirements and the sale of surplus county property, Spence said. One wouldamend the method by which emergency medical service districts are reimbursed. Another would allow counties to recover the costs of cleaning up property cited for unsanitary conditions by placing the expenses on the property owner’s tax bill.

The fifth sample bill would clarify the use of inmate work crews from county jails, specifically allowing them to aid not-forprofit organizations. Benton County briefly considered suspending its use of inmate work crews to benefit nonprofit agencies, like Habitat For Humanity, after questions were raised about the language of the state law. Existing law doesn’t prohibit the work crews from assisting nonprofit groups, but doesn’t clearly allow it.

County Judge Bob Clinard said he favors a revision of the law, but wants to keep some authority in the office of the county judge. Clinard also said he is concerned allowing inmate work crews to help nonprofit groups could amount to political patronage, with the work crews being assigned to help political supporters of elected officials. Others shared Clinard’s concerns, saying changes should be considered before any bill is offered.

“We need to spend some time before we go any further,” Summers said, adding the intent of the original legislation was to prevent abuse of inmate labor by public officials. Other questions were raised about how the county could limit organizations that could use inmate labor.

“It looks like we need to take this back and rehash at least the first part of it,” Douglas said.

The justices of the peace also discussed the number of elections held in the county, with discussion centered around limiting them or even doing away with special elections.

Justice of the Peace Frank Winscott said he favors abolishing special elections altogether, even though the proposal being discussedwould allow two special election days each year.

“I don’t think the word ‘special’ ought to be in there,” Winscott said. “I think we ought to have two elections every year, one in May and one in November.”

Winscott said he objected to the cost of frequent elections and their use to promote special projects or issues. Justice of the Peace Tom Allen said he’s appalled by the turnout in school elections and thinks the results aren’t truly representative of the electorate.

“It’s just not fair,” Allen said. “Look at the turnout. The biggest school district in Arkansas is what? Bentonville. And it’s ridiculous how low the turnout is. I’m not picking on any one school district, but it’s stacked in favor of the school district getting what it wants. There’s a ton of reasons to have this changed.”

Slinkard said the question of changing the schedule of school elections has been discussed, but is more complicated than simply setting a new date. School district boundaries don’t follow precinct or political district lines, she said, making it almost impossible for a county to produce the number of ballot faces needed to combine a school election with a primary or general election.

Bledsoe said a bill was considered by the Legislature in 1999 that would have reformed election laws, including school elections.

“It created a lot of controversy and it just wasn’t done,” she said.

The county also asked lawmakers to look into the state laws governing the division of the county road tax. Most Arkansas cities receive 50 percent of the county road tax collected in their jurisdiction, but several cities have managed to have legislation passed that increased their share. In Benton County, Rogers, Bentonville and Siloam Springs all receive 90 percent of the county road tax collected in their cities.

News, Pages 12 on 01/25/2012