FAYETTEVILLE -- The executive branch of Washington County government is gearing up for the 2016 budgeting process in the next few months, with elected officials asserting authority over their departments.
The county judge met Tuesday morning with the sheriff, assessor, other county officials, department heads and employees, giving all attendees time to voice concerns and thoughts about the process. The Quorum Court has begun budget discussions that should wrap up late in the fall.
He Said, He Said
On Washington County spending and budget cuts:
• Sheriff Tim Helder: “We cannot continue to cut in those areas without cutting our services, and I don’t think the public would stand for that.”
• Justice of the Peace Harvey Bowman, District 3: “This is not about attacking personalities or your credibility or anything of the kind. It’s a checkbook issue.”
Officials during the meeting touched on streamlining the process, paying employees more and keeping some control over their budgets.
"It's vitally important that we all work together, that we all understand how much money there is," said County Judge Marilyn Edwards, who leads Quorum Court meetings.
Other officials echoed Edwards' call for unity in county government, but the meeting also served as another step in a continual checks-and-balances argument between the executive branch and the Quorum Court, the legislative body that divvies up roughly $60 million each year among the departments. Department heads advise the Quorum Court and the court sets their budgets by ordinance. Only the Quorum Court can change the total amount of money allocated to each department.
The two branches have a "trust issue," as Sheriff Tim Helder put it.
Citing their responsibility as stewards of taxpayer money, Quorum Court members have pushed for a tighter grip on spending in recent years. They've discussed limiting departments' ability to shuffle money between line items, controlling the dollars going to food, fuel and other specific needs. They've also cut millions of dollars in spending to rebuild the county's reserve.
That push has continued in the past few weeks, with Democrat Eva Madison and other justices of the peace saying the reserve is still too low to loosen the belt. The 15 members of the Quorum Court voted last month to disband its seven-member Finance Committee in order to let every justice have a say in budget matters, defying Edwards' decision to limit the committee's membership.
Elected officials Tuesday acknowledged the Quorum Court's power over allocating money but said cuts have consequences and Quorum Court authority should only reach so far.
"I'm not going to be pushed around by the Quorum Court into something we've never done before," said Collector David Ruff, a Republican, referring to the proposed line-item transfer limit. Ruff said putting a cap on such transfers could be fine if the limit is high enough to avoid hitting it too often. But with such a constraint, he said, "It could take a couple months to do something that we need right now."
Employee numbers could set up another dispute between the two branches, County Attorney Steve Zega, who isn't elected, said at the meeting. Department heads say they've put off adding staff while workloads keep increasing. Quorum Court justices recently said departments should look into having fewer employees.
At least four of the justices attended Tuesday's meeting. Harvey Bowman, a Springdale Republican and advocate of limiting spending, told the group last year's $4 million cuts were "a tough deal to go through."
"I can appreciate everything I've heard this morning," he said.
However, Bowman pointed out the county spent more than it took in for several years.
"This is not about attacking personalities or your credibility or anything of the kind. It's a checkbook issue," he said. "There's 15 of us struggling to deal with it. I wish we could give you everything you wanted and then some, but that's not an option."
Edwards said the county has other options.
The Quorum Court lowered property taxes by half a mill to 3.9 mills in 2011, saving $30 a year for the owner of a $150,000 home and depriving the county of $1.5 million in revenue. Edwards and a handful of justices have raised the possibility of at least partly undoing that tax cut.
Comptroller Cheryl Bolinger, who keeps track of department spending and isn't elected, told the group she and Treasurer Bobby Hill hope to save time in the budgeting process by compiling departments' expected spending needs and revenue for next year all at once for the Quorum Court instead of presenting each department one by one, as has been done in the past.
"We've never completed the budget upfront," Bolinger said. "It just seems like every year it involves more and more meetings."
Helder, a Democrat, said throughout all of the disagreement and discussion, paying the county's 570 or so employees enough for their work must be a priority. Most employees received a 2 percent raise this year and Helder said their compensation is "woefully behind."
"We cannot continue to cut in those areas without cutting our services, and I don't think the public would stand for that," he said. "The (Quorum) Court has a tough job."
Dan Holtmeyer can be reached at dholtmeyer@nwadg.com and on Twitter @NWADanH.
NW News on 08/05/2015