BENTONVILLE -- After a long process, Benton County officials say they are generally pleased with the county's 2016 budget.
"I think the '16 budget ended in a very good place," said Barry Moehring, justice of the peace. "I think we satisfied the needs of the county's departments and elected officials. We were able to budget for raises for our employees and still put dollars into our reserves. I think that's a good year. That's a good budget."
Brenda Guenther, county comptroller, said the budget shows growth in revenue and spending. Projected 2015 revenue for the general and road funds was budgeted at $50,143,928, Guenther said. The projected revenue for the general and road funds in 2016 is budgeted at $53,910,757. Spending totals for 2015 were budgeted at $46,790,875, and the 2016 budget has spending at $49,691,954.
Spending for personnel increased by 4.86 percent, from $27,181,306 in the 2015 budget to $28,502,706 in the 2016 budget, Guenther said. That includes money to provide 2 percent merit raises for employees, said Tom Allen, justice of the peace and chairman of the Finance Committee.
"That's a big part of that increase," Allen said.
Spending on supplies is set to grow by 3.64 percent from $9,527,253 in 2015 to $9,873,829 in 2016, Guenther said. Spending on other services is expected to decrease by 2.12 percent with the 2015 budget showing costs of $7,121,325, and the 2016 budget projecting those costs at $6,970,309.
The biggest percentage increase in spending is in the county's election budget, which Guenther said shows a 200 percent increase from 2015 to 2016, The difference is 2016 is a presidential election year, which always has higher costs than off years like 2015, Guenther said.
Dollar-wise, the biggest increase was in spending on capital items, Guenther said. That part of the budget is set to increase by 46.75 percent from $1,384,119 in 2015 to $4,345,110 in 2016. The Road Department accounted for the bulk of the capital requests, with a list of equipment totaling $3,187,925. The department estimated $527,750 in revenue from the sale or trade-in of used equipment, leaving a net cost to the county of $2,660,175.
Joel Jones, justice of the peace, said the increase in capital items wasn't a surprise.
"That last couple of years we've been holding back on some of the capital projects, like some of the building projects," Jones said. "I think we finally got to a point where we needed to get those things taken care of. The Road Department's capital budget was large, but we understand they're paving a lot of roads, doing a lot of road rebuilding."
County Judge Bob Clinard, who has the Road Department among departments under his authority, said the capital requests were only what is needed. The department has cut projected spending in materials to try to get the Quorum Court to approve a $335,000 piece of equipment that was cut from the budget, Clinard said. Clinard also plans to ask the justices of the peace to reconsider a request for another mechanic for the department.
"I don't think we got everything we needed," Clinard said. "I understand the difference between needs and wants. We need more equipment if the Road Department is going to do the work we have planned without having to take dollars out of materials. We desperately need another mechanic and I'm going to continue to ask for that position. Our equipment, they want it to last longer, but in order to make it last longer we have to maintain it."
Clinard said he understands the role of the Quorum Court in budgeting and he believes the justices of the peace will be open to increasing the Road Department's budget if good weather allows for an expansion of the paving program. The county set a goal of paving more than 50 miles of county roads in 2015 and has a similar plan in place for 2016.
"We have a real aggressive year planned to build up and maintain our road system," he said. "If the weather cooperates, we plan to get that done."
The county will have to make some long-term budget choices in 2016, with a courts building looming as a major expense, Clinard said. The county, he said, should be willing to take "a substantial portion" of its $15 million in unrestricted reserve funds to pay part of the cost of the project, which has been estimated at between $26 million and $31 million. The county also has to closely watch the projected costs of repairing or rehabilitating War Eagle Bridge, repairing or replacing other bridges and the cost of a possible expansion of the county jail.
County Spending
Three departments account for 65 percent of Benton County's projected 2016 spending. Brenda Guenther, comptroller, said the budget for the Road Department totals $14,908,169, which is 30 percent of the total budget. The Sheriff's Office 2016 budget of $9,470,172 accounts for 19.1 percent of the budget, while the County Jail's 2016 budget of $7,85,10 is 15.9 percent of the budget.
Source: Benton County
General News on 12/23/2015