Pulaski County is wrapping up a $254,551 lobby remodeling project on the south side of its administration building, just one of several building projects to come.
Earlier this year, the Quorum Court approved spending $594,829 in carryover funds on additional building upgrades, including carpet replacement, panic buttons, courthouse elevators, plumbing, mortar work and curtain replacement.
That is on top of the $1 million in carryover funds approved last year for maintenance projects, which later included the administration buildingremodeling project. The other projects included $500,000 for a new phone system, $136,898 for roof repairs and $80,000 security cameras.
Carryover money is what's left after the fiscal year is over and it represents the difference between what the county spent and what it received in revenue. Carryover for 2015 that is spendable in 2016 was nearly $3.3 million. The year prior, it was $1.7 million.
In each of the past three years, the Quorum Court has accepted Comptroller Mike Hutchens' proposals for using the money, which often include placing funds in reserves and spending on maintenance projects.
Pulaski County's annual carryover funds have increased in recent years, along with revenue, after a period of loss and slow growth in the mid-2000s. In 2015, county revenue was $68.4 million, up from $66 million in 2014, while the county budget increased from $64.2 million to $65.1 million.
Hutchens has projected revenue above $69 million for 2016, while the county is budgeted to spend nearly $69 million, with about $1 million of that being reimbursed by the Federal Election Commission for holding the 2016 elections.
The revamp of the entryway of the county administration building should wrap up in the next week, Pulaski County Judge Barry Hyde said.
In addition to aesthetic upgrades like new paint and new lighting, the remodeling includes an automatic door opener for people who are disabled. The north entrance into the building has an automatic door opener, but Hyde wants to close off that entrance and maintain only the south entrance for security reasons. The south entrance doesn't currently have an automatic door opener.
The remodeling of the entryway also will include a turnstile and a place for county employees and visitors to scan new identification badges. To go along with the remodeling project, the sheriff's office will provide a new deputy to be paid an annual salary of $36,440.82 to provide security in the lobby.
The project wasn't initially included in plans for the carryover money as approved by the Pulaski County Quorum Court, but was funded after a project of a similar cost -- the purchase of a nearby property and plans to turn it into a parking lot -- fell through.
This year, about $400,000 is appropriated to repair elevators in the county courthouse, about $16,000 to replace a fire control panel and $10,000 to $30,000 to install bullet-resistant glass on the second floor of the lobby of the juvenile detention center, Hutchens said.
Additionally, the county will replace curtains in the administration building that have dry rot in several places.
Hutchens said "there's always something that has to be done" in the nearly 100-year-old administration building that was once a parking garage.
"You want people have a little pride in it," he said. "You want to have a professional appearance and something that everybody can be proud of."
The county may spend more money on upgrades in the future with energy efficiency improvements in all county buildings.
As a part of the 2015 carryover funds appropriated by the Quorum Court in February, $1.8 million was set aside in the deferred maintenance and technology reserve fund.
That money is for the Quorum Court to appropriate later, if justices of the peaces wishto, for energy efficiency projects recommended by an energy audit that the county has hired Conway energy services group Entegrity to do, county attorney Adam Fogleman said.
Before doing any of those projects, the Quorum Court would have to approve a bond to be issued against the money set aside for the improvements, Fogleman said. The bond would be repaid in full over time by the county through savings from energy efficiency. The county would be required to save money over time as a part of the Arkansas Energy Performance contracting program run through the Arkansas Energy Office.
"The concept behind it is that we can use energy efficiency upgrades to create energy savings, which are then used to pay for the improvements themselves," Fogleman said.
"There will be hopefully a huge amount of deferred maintenance issues that we can address," he added.
Metro on 03/28/2016