PINE BLUFF -- Jefferson County will be able to make payroll for its employees July 31, but future dates are in question unless money-saving measures are taken immediately.
At Monday night's Quorum Court meeting, Justice of the Peace Herman Ginger, chairman of the finance committee, called an emergency finance and Quorum Court meeting for 5 p.m. Wednesday to discuss ways to fix the financial problems.
Among the ideas will be cutting 10 jobs. Ginger proposed laying off the 10 employees hired most recently, calling the proposal "tough but necessary."
At a Jefferson County Quorum Court finance committee meeting Thursday, elected officials presented ways their offices could help pay workers' salaries temporarily during the budget shortfall.
The move, coupled with yearly money the county receives from unclaimed property and real estate funds, has created a thin cushion so that workers will receive their checks through the end of July, Jefferson County Treasurer Elizabeth Rinchuso said Monday night.
"This is a bit of good news, but we are still in a position where something has to be done right now if we are going to keep making payroll," Rinchuso said.
Initially, county officials said they would not be able to make payroll Wednesday, but the Jefferson County sheriff's office stepped in to help. Sheriff Gerald Robinson said he temporarily removed five of his employees' salaries from the books of the county's general fund and placed them into a public-safety fund instead. This will save $140,000 from the county's general fund through the end of the year, he said.
The county spends $600,000 each month on salaries out of $750,000 allotted for expenses, but tax revenue steadily declined over the past two decades as the county's population has dwindled. County Judge Dutch King said this has resulted in the county's budget being stretched beyond its limits.
The county will be better off financially once tax collections begin in October and November, officials said, but layoffs will likely be needed to permanently relieve the financial burden.
About 160 employees, including elected officials, are paid from the county general fund.
A proposal Ginger introduced several weeks ago to reduce the salaries of employees paid from the county general fund by 20 percent gained little favor among Quorum Court members. Ginger said the plan was simply to "help us get through until we can figure out a permanent solution."
The cuts would have potentially saved the county $120,000 per month, Ginger said. The county needs to shave at least that much, possibly more, from its monthly payroll to "right the ship," Ginger said.
Justices of the peace voted 8-5 on June 29 to table Ginger's proposed ordinance, and it has since failed to gain any traction.
Under Ginger's proposal, the offices of the Jefferson County treasurer, tax collector and assessor would be exempt from salary cuts because their offices are self-funded. 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.
King said Ginger's new job-cutting proposal would lay off employees who should never have been hired in the first place, citing a hiring freeze that was supposed to be imposed nearly two years ago.
"The freeze was ignored by many departments," King said Monday night. "Now we are in a tough situation."
State Desk on 07/14/2015