$551,354 more OK’d for assessor’s office

The Pulaski County Quorum Court approved a $550,000 budget increase for the county assessor’s office and the budgets of 16 other county departments and agencies at a meeting Tuesday night.

The Quorum Court had tabled a measure Thursday to approve $551,354 for the assessor’s office, which operates mostly from funds distinct from general county revenue, after questions were raised about the effect of the allocation on the county’s general fund.

The assessor’s office gets 92 percent of its funding from school districts and the other 8 percent from the general fund, but Budget Committee Chairman Bob Johnson said the Quorum Court can’t spend that revenue elsewhere.

“She’s her own entity,” Johnson said, referring to county Assessor Janet Troutman Ward.

The Quorum Court also approved a $23,000 increase to the coroner’s budget, which Johnson said the Quorum Court didn’t have much choice about, because medical requirements have changed for certain procedures, and the coroner’s caseload has increased. The county’s homicide rate has gone down, Johnson said, but the caseload has risen because of overdoses, vehicle fatalities and deaths in the homeless population.

The Quorum Court also approved $30,000 more for animal services as per a new contract requirement, and seven circuit court budgets that varied in funding increases and decreases were approved. A $13,000 increase request for machinery from the 1st Division Circuit Court was not approved with the rest of its budget, Johnson said, because the expense was more of a one-time issue that should be passed by an ordinance instead of in a budget measure.

The Quorum Court also approved of budgets for the county attorney, court-appointed special advocates, the county judge, the office of emergency management, planning and development, sanitation, and road and bridge.

The budget hearings will continue next Tuesday, and personnel-related requests will be heard Nov. 14.

Arkansas, Pages 10 on 10/30/2013

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