CONWAY -- A committee of the Faulkner County Quorum Court took a first step Tuesday toward finding revenue to finance operations of an animal shelter once one is established.
Several people in the small audience applauded after the Courts and Public Safety Committee agreed to recommend that the Quorum Court's Budget and Finance Committee look into potential sources of revenue.
Conway has a shelter, but the county does not.
In January, the county paid $499,025 to buy property on South German Lane for a shelter, using revenue from a voluntary 1.5-mill animal-shelter tax that began in 2006.
Donna Clawson, chairman of the Faulkner County Animal Shelter Advisory Board, said that at the time, the board members thought the county planned to lease part of the building to another office while the county worked toward finding a revenue source to operate a shelter there later.
Instead, the board learned that the county plans to lease the entire facility to the sheriff's office, which already is remodeling it. As a result, the site can't be renovated into a shelter even in part during the next two years.
The Courts and Public Safety Committee discussed returning the $499,025 to the shelter fund as the advisory board has requested but made no decision.
Clawson has estimated that it would cost $850,000 to build a shelter. The shelter fund recently had a balance of $878,449.98, not counting the money the board wants returned.
Clawson has previously suggested letting residents vote on whether to reallocate 10 percent of a half-percent sales tax that now is split 50-50 between roads and law enforcement needs. That 10 percent could go toward helping the shelter raise about $400,000 a year for operating expenses, and any additional revenue could go wherever the Quorum Court believes it is most needed, she said.
Asked about the impact of that proposal on the sheriff's office, Sheriff Tim Ryals said, "We are already scraping the barrel. ... We try to be as frugal as we can. ... It would be devastating."
Ryals said after the meeting that the lease agreement for the sheriff's office to use the South German Lane property would take effect April 1 and require a $20,000 annual payment to the shelter fund.
Committee Chairman Randy Higgins said he thought the justices of the peace would be "good stewards" of the taxpayers' money if they can agree to operate a joint shelter with the city, thereby avoiding duplication of some expenses.
"[The city] hasn't said no," Higgins related. But the city needs more information on the county's plans, he said.
"I know we need an animal shelter, and I'm for it," but it needs a revenue stream for operating expenses, another justice of the peace said.
Clawson told the justices of the peace that they can solve the problem.
But she said, "If you knock it down the road two more years, you still don't have a revenue stream."
It would be best, she said, if the sheriff stays at the South German Lane site and the county builds a shelter from scratch instead.
State Desk on 03/14/2018