PINE BLUFF -- Jefferson County officials failed Tuesday night to come up with a way to solve their financial emergency.
The finance committee discussed several options but didn't decide what to do. Justice of the Peace Herman Ginger, finance committee chairman, called a special meeting for 3 p.m. Thursday.
It's unclear what the county will do to make a July 31 payroll. Quorum Court members have discussed cutting salaries and borrowing money from other county departments, but support for the plans hasn't gained much traction.
Initially, county officials said they would not be able to make a July 15 payroll, but Jefferson County Treasurer Elizabeth Rinchuso said Tuesday night that enough funds were available to cover that date's checks. The county will be nearly $120,000 short of paying workers on July 31 if something isn't done, Rinchuso said.
County Judge Dutch King likened the situation to the doomed Titanic, saying Tuesday night that the luxury liner received "six warnings about icebergs but did not heed those warnings. It hit one, and then split apart. ... That is where we are headed."
The financial problems boil down to this, officials said: The county spends $600,000 each month on salaries out of $750,000 allotted for expenses, but tax revenue has been in steady decline over the past two decades as the county's population has dwindled.
Since 2000, Jefferson County has lost more than 11,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The county's current population is 73,191, according to a 2013 census estimate.
Though Rinchuso said the county's finances will be much improved by October, when tax collections begin rolling in, she warned that the same shortfalls will occur next year if something isn't done. Justice of the Peace Ted Harden said layoffs are the only long-term solution.
"We know we are overstaffed," Harden said Tuesday night. "We have got to do a staff reduction. There is no other way around it."
Justices of the peace voted 8-5 June 29 to table a proposed ordinance drafted by Ginger that would have reduced the salaries of employees paid from the county's general fund. The move would have saved enough money to meet the payroll, but a majority of justices of the peace objected, saying more discussion is needed before they decide whether to take money out of workers' pockets.
Under the proposal that justices tabled, the offices of the Jefferson County treasurer, tax collector and assessor would be exempt from salary cuts because their offices are self-funded. Reducing all other salaries paid from the county general fund by 20 percent would potentially save the county $120,000 per month, according to the proposal.
More than 100 workers would be affected by salary cuts if the proposal passes. Elected officials' salaries would not be cut because Arkansas Code Annotated 14-14-1203 states that those salaries cannot be changed during the officials' terms.
To keep the county operating without interruption, the proposal calls for elected officials "to structure the reductions in any manner which they deem feasible to maintain office hours consistent with current office hours and may offset reductions by any other funding sources to which they have access and authority over."
Justice of the Peace Lloyd Franklin II proposed Tuesday night to allow offices that can afford to lend money to the county general fund to do so. He said it would temporarily help make up for the funding shortfall. Franklin said the circuit clerk and sheriff's offices had both told them they could afford it, but there is no formal plan in place.
Justice of the Peace Conley F. Byrd Jr. said he would like the court to be "better informed about plans that are being put together. You are talking about things right now that many of us have no knowledge about. Reading something in the newspaper is a heck of a way for the Quorum Court to find out what's going on. Please put this in writing for us."
Ginger echoed Byrd's frustrations, saying, "I work based off of what's on documents in front of me. We have nothing here on paper about what you are proposing."
Franklin said he had given documents to the county judge's office regarding his proposals and that "they would be made available to anyone who wanted copies."
Meanwhile, King said he will work hard to ensure that jobs aren't cut, but he admitted it won't be easy.
"When you have declining revenue, you have to make cuts," he said. "We have a $9 million budget, and we spend roughly $7 million on salaries. We need to save as much money from the county general fund as we can. It's time to quit talking and do something."
State Desk on 07/08/2015