PINE BLUFF -- Jefferson County's elected officials came up with nearly $340,000 from their collective budgets Tuesday to bolster the county's budget for the rest of the year.
At a meeting led by Jefferson County Sheriff Gerald Robinson, officials described the different ways their departments could help. Tuesday's meeting materialized after several failed attempts by the Jefferson County Quorum Court to find a solution to the budget problem.
The county will be better off financially once tax collections begin in October and November, but between now and then "will be difficult," Dutch King, the county judge of Jefferson County, said.
But the cuts are short of what's needed. Jefferson County Treasurer Elizabeth Rinchuso has said the county needs to come up with $180,000 in cuts per month to straighten out its finances in the long run.
Robinson said he has shifted several deputies who were paid from the depleted county general fund to the Public Safety Sales Tax fund. Other elected officials made similar proposals.
It was unclear Tuesday when the Quorum Court would meet next to discuss the matter, although the money shuffling must be approved by that body before it can take effect.
Jefferson County has been battling budget problems for more than two months, and making payroll for nearly 160 workers has been in question as a result. So far, everyone has gotten paid, but without the elected officials' money pledges, August's payroll would be in jeopardy, officials said.
"I think we can do this," Robinson said at Tuesday's meeting. "We have all come together to work this out, but we realize that this is just a temporary fix."
The more permanent solution will mean layoffs, Robinson said.
"But before we do that, we need to look at every possible cut that can be made," he said.
The county spends $600,000 each month on salaries out of $750,000 allotted for expenses -- a figure too high to sustain, county officials said.
Jefferson County's budget problems begin with population losses that have caused its tax base to dwindle, King has said. Property and sales taxes make up the bulk of a county's budget.
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.
Additionally, spending has outpaced revenue over the past several years, resulting in budget shortfalls, Rinchuso said.
For example, Jefferson County began 2008 with more than $3.4 million in its county general fund. To start 2015, the county general fund held just $1.1 million, Rinchuso said, adding that county offices and departments are spending more money than they were appropriated.
Rinchuso also said there have been about $250,000 less than expected in fines and fees collected from the Jefferson County sheriff's office and the circuit and county clerks' offices because judges have been allowing residents to perform community service instead of paying fines.
In the meantime, county workers have been on edge. Workers who gathered after Tuesday's meeting at the Jefferson County Courthouse but didn't want to be identified said they were "fed up" with the situation.
One woman, who said she has worked for the county for 10 years, said: "They need to just tell us what they want to do so we will know. It's hard sitting here on pins and needles every time they have one of these meetings. This is people's financial lives they are talking about. It could be mine on the line."
State Desk on 07/22/2015