County officials to review wish lists

New 911 equipment included in requests

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

— Having approved Christmas bonuses for employees, Benton County’s justices of the peace will now consider the annual wish list of capital requests from department heads for the 2014 budget.

Tom Allen, justice of the peace for District 4 and chairman of the Finance Committee, said the first task will be to put the requests into priority order since the county has more in requests than money available.

“It’s pretty obvious we’re not going to be doing all of it,” Allen said

The Budget Committee will review and prioritize the items on the list that range from $1 million for new 911 answering equipment to a new copier for the County Clerk’s Offi ce.

Other items include a $124,034 patrol boat for the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, a pair of fire engines for the rural fire service costing about $450,000, and a variety of vehicles, machinery and equipment, computer software, office equipment and repairs to a number of buildings, including the Benton County Courthouse.

The total of all of the proposed items reaches $4,595,832, according to Sarah Daniels, comptroller. Justices of the peace will budget items paid for from the general fund, Road Department fund and capital projects fund. The general fund requests total $1,311,587, while the road fund requests total $944,000 and requests for items to be paid from the capital projects fund total $956,000.

Allen said he expects items approved for the 2014 budget to be limited. He said he’ll consider looking for more budget reductions if some capital items don’t make thefirst cut. Another possibility is to defer some items until next year when the county will learn how much money it will have in returned appropriations and excess revenue from 2013.

“In my opinion, we’re only able to do a little bit unless we’re able to cut the budget somewhere else,” Allen said. “I’d like to prioritize the capital items to see what we need to invest in this year and what can be delayed.”

County Judge Bob Clinard said the Road Department requests are light for 2014. The department is asking for a used excavator, two tractors with side-boom mowers, two dump trucks, a bush hog and one new grader.

The department will have trade-ins for some of the purchases, bringing the expected cost to $590,000. Three new work trucks and a used tire service truck will add another $180,000 to the requests, which an expected trade-in will reduce to $163,500.

Purchases from federal surplus programs bump the cost up to $783,500.

The Road Department request also includes $160,500 for land acquisition costs for bridge projects.

John Sudduth, general services administrator, oversees the Maintenance Department along with the Planning and Environmental Department. The county has maintenance projects planned for several buildings that cost $956,000 and would be paid for from the capital projects fund, which has money allocated to it by the justices of the peace from the unrestricted reserve to make money available for building projects.

Sudduth said several of the repair projects are critical, with a new roof on the courthouse being his fi rst choice.

“The top priority is the roof on the courthouse,” Sudduth said. “Second is the exterior surface of the administration building. The courthouse is leaking so bad, it’s coming through the roof and getting into the judge’s offices and into the courtrooms. It’s been past its life for many years and we need to get it taken care of now.”

Sudduth said the exterior of the County Administration building was damaged by employees.

“In years past, they had the county Road Department come over and power-wash the dirt and grime off the building,” Sudduth said. “In the process, they’ve taken off all the exterior fi nish, so we’ve got leaks.”

Sudduth said the county also needs to do major work on the roof of the Health Department building in Siloam Springs. The county has repaired the roof to stop the building from leaking, he said, but years of neglect have left it in need of replacement.

Daniels has told justices of the peace revenue for 2014 is expected to top $47 million.

Operating costs are projected at $45 million, leaving about $2.1 million. Elected offi cialscut budgets with a goal of giving employees a 7 percent raise for 2014, which would cost about $2.1 million. Department heads and elected offi - cials also submitted capital equipment requests of about $2.2 million and requests for new personnel that would cost about $378,000.

Justices of the peace already have agreed on a plan to provide money for a 1 percent costof-living increase for employees and a pool of money for merit raises equal to the cost of a 3 percent raise.

Those raises would cost about $1.12 million, according to Daniels.

The committee has also voted to give elected offi cials raises.

Barb Ludwig, human resources manager, said the health fund needs to maintain a balance of about $1.7 million, which it has, and the money needed to provide the $500 Christmas bonuses could be taken out of excess money that has accumulated in recent years.

With the pay raises, Daniels said, the county has about $1.05 million remaining for other personnel and capital requests. The justices of the peace are still considering about $98,000 in requests for personnel, having recommended about $280,000 in reorganizations and new personnel at their earlier meetings.

Kurt Moore, justice of the peace for District 13, said his priorities for capital projects include the two new fi re engines, building repair and technology upgrades. Moore said he will look at vehicles as the last items on his list. Moore suggested the county could take a portion of its share of the special sales tax approved by voters last year for transportation and infrastructure projects and put it toward Road Department requests.

The county expects to receive about $1.2 million a year for the 10-year life of the tax.

“With the additional work you do, you’ll also have additional wear and tear on your vehicles and equipment,” he said.

“I’d suggest maybe onequarter or one-third of the money being used for equipment would be perfectly legitimate.”

News, Pages 1 on 11/13/2013