Pay rises in works for Arkansas county's justices, 5 execs

County measure awaits final OK

The Pulaski County Quorum Court's budget committee has approved a measure that would give the 15 justices of the peace and five county executives raises for the 2017 budget cycle.

During a committee meeting Thursday evening, an amendment was approved that would set aside funds for an increase of nearly 18 percent -- from $12,012 to $14,131 -- for each justice of the peace's annual salary. The raises for the 15 members of the Quorum Court would cost $31,785 annually from the county's general fund.

The salaries would not increase until the county's final budget is approved in November by the full Quorum Court and after the members also vote on an ordinance that would increase per-diem compensation, the amount paid to members for attending meetings.

The $14,131 is the maximum amount allowed by state law for compensation of justices of the peace in counties with populations of 200,000 or more. The compensation for 2016 was set at 85 percent of the maximum.

The proposal, which was initiated by several members of the Quorum Court, was passed by the budget committee 5-1, with two abstentions.

The budget committee then considered a measure that would spend $50,628 annually to increase the salaries of the county's elected officials: County Judge Barry Hyde, Sheriff Doc Holladay, Assessor Janet Ward, County Clerk Larry Crane, and Treasurer and Tax Collector Debra Buckner. It will be the first raise any of the department heads have received in many years, Buckner said.

The proposal, which was spearheaded by Buckner, would put each of the five officials' salaries at 85 percent of the maximum allowed by the state. The sheriff and the county judge now are paid $99,067 or 81.2 percent of the state maximum, which is $122,033, while the assessor's salary at $85,404 is 74.3 percent of the maximum $114,875, and the clerk and treasurer are paid $87,292, which is 72.8 percent of the maximum $119,794.

"We've been at 72 percent for many, many, many years, and not even addressed the fact that we're well under [the maximum]," Buckner said.

The proposal would increase the salaries of the treasurer and clerk by the largest margin, about $14,500.

According to Buckner, only two other counties, Washington and Benton, fit in the same category as Pulaski County. The clerks, treasurers and collectors in those counties are paid the maximum allowable salary.

"I'm going to be OK no matter what you do," Crane said. "My life is going to go right on. I'm going to live in the same house, I'm going to drive the same car. It'll probably make it a little easier to pay my bills every month, and that would be the only difference."

But what Crane, Buckner, and Holladay -- who are all approaching retirement -- each stressed was the kind of applicants their current salaries would attract after they leave office. H̶o̶l̶l̶a̶d̶a̶y̶ ̶h̶a̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶n̶o̶u̶n̶c̶e̶d̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶r̶e̶t̶i̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶f̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶s̶e̶r̶v̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶c̶u̶r̶r̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶e̶r̶m.*

"When we leave, you need to be able to carry on the good work that's being done, and I'm not sure you can attract the kind of people that need to be attracted with the salaries that we have," Crane said.

Department heads also are pushing for a 4 percent raise for county employees, depending on total tax revenue collected this month. The budget committee will consider the raise during its final meeting Oct. 20. County employees have received raises of 3 percent or 4 percent in six of the past 12 years, according to county records.

"I don't want any of this considered for my part until the employees are taken care of," Ward said. "When all the [tax] numbers are in, and we know that the employees can get their raise, then I would like for y'all to consider this as an equity issue."

Metro on 10/09/2016

*CORRECTION: Pulaski County Sheriff Doc Holladay is running for re-election and plans to retire after his next term, if elected. An article in Sunday’s editions about a raise in the works for county officials misstated the timing of Holladay’s planned retirement. In addition, the story omitted that County Judge Barry Hyde has said he would not accept the raise if it is approved by the Quorum Court.

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