In a special meeting Thursday night, the Boone County Quorum Court approved a budget for 2014 that spends $123.45 less than one vetoed six days earlier by County Judge James Norton.
That number was chosen because it’s easy to remember, said David Thompson, chairman of the Quorum Court’s Budget Committee. The money was cut from the county’s Office of Emergency Management, but a new ordinance could put $123.45 back in that office’s budget after Wednesday, Thompson said.
That’s $123.45 out of a $7 million general fund budget and a total budget of about $12 million.
Thompson said he thought Norton vetoed the budget approved by justices of the peace on Dec. 16 primarily because he didn’t get a chance to speak at that meeting. Norton wanted to give a “state of the county” report and “possibly get a few things off his chest as well,” Thompson said.
“Basically, he didn’t get to say his piece on some issues he wanted to,” said Thompson, who has served on the Quorum Court for seven years. “He’s well within his rights to veto it. It surprised folks. It’s the first time it happened since I’ve been there.”
A special meeting was necessary because according to state law the budget must be approved by Jan. 1, Thompson said. Otherwise, an override of the judge’s veto wouldn’t have been possible until the next regular meeting, which is scheduled for Jan. 13.
Norton said he wanted to explain to justices of the peace that he thought the road budget was being neglected.
“The general fund road budget has been cut for the last two years,” Norton said Friday. “It’s been cut from $1.8 million to like $904,000 in two years.”
Norton said a 1 percent county sales tax generates about $2.86 million a year. Two years ago, Norton reached a verbal agreement with justices of the peace that 56 percent of that money would go to county roads because that percentage of county residents live in rural areas.
That agreement is no longer being followed, in part because there has been turnover on the Quorum Court.
“One Quorum Court can’t obligate the next one,” Norton said.
Norton said he wants the justices of the peace to “put in black and white what [their] priorities are.”
“I asked them to move roads off the bottom and put them up close to the top in the future if they could,” Norton said. “Is that being too harsh?It’s the only budget that’s been cut two years in a row.”
Norton said his speech wasn’t the only thing that happened Thursday night.
“We passed a resolution that we had to pass to lease three road graders,” Norton said. “We really needed to do that. We also passed an ordinance allowing the coroner to buy a pickup and all the equipment needed for a coroner’s vehicle. We also had a budget- and finance-committee meeting before the regular meeting. It’s anybody’s prerogative to judge whether that was worth it or not.”
Sam Tinsley, another justice of the peace, said holding the special meeting Thursday cost the county about $3,000. Each of the 11 justices of the peace is paid $300 per meeting, although they’re given the option to refuse payment, Tinsley said.
Ten Quorum Court members attended Thursday’s meeting, accounting for Tinsley’s cost estimate.
As advised by Ron Kincaid, a county prosecutor who serves as legal counsel for the Quorum Court, justices of the peace approved a new budget that was slightly different from the one that had been vetoed.
“It’s just a technicality,” Thompson said.
The new budget was defeated Thursday night, then after a 90-minute discussion, it was brought up again and passed 8-2, Thompson said.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 12/28/2013