PINE BLUFF -- The City Council will consider a $10,000 request for funds from Jefferson County Coroner Chad Kelley at its next meeting Feb. 17.
On Wednesday, the council's Public Safety Committee, chaired by Win Trafford, agreed to pass Kelley's request for funds along to the full council with the recommendation that the council grant his request. The funds would be used to buy supplies.
Kelley told the committee that his appropriation from the Quorum Court, at $19,092.59 to cover general supplies, janitorial supplies, vehicle costs and office expenses is not enough to cover his annual costs, forcing him the past several years to ask the Quorum Court for a supplemental appropriation midyear or to move money from salaries to cover the shortfall.
Kelley provided the committee with copies of his 2020 budget and a listing of case statistics going back to 2003, listing the number of deaths in Jefferson County broken down by natural causes, accidents, homicides, suicides and undetermined.
The two largest budget line items, Kelley said, are $6,230.63 for general supplies and $5,000 for fuel, oil and lubricants. The amounts for both, he said, are insufficient.
"That office down there, that's not our office," Kelley said. "Those vehicles that you see driving around, those are our offices. The general supplies, that's not office supplies. That's body bags, gloves, needles, syringes, vaccutubes -- things that we have to have to do our job."
Kelley decided to ask the city for help, he said, because of the number of deaths that occur in Jefferson County annually. There were 648 last year. The majority occur in Pine Bluff, the largest population center in the county.
"Last year alone we had 32 homicides, 28 or 29 in the city limits of Pine Bluff, but then with us having a regional medical facility, we have cases that come from outside Jefferson County," he said. "We work homicides that are reported, but they aren't included in those statistics of how many homicides that occur in the city limits of Pine Bluff."
Kelley acknowledged that it is the county that sets his budget, but the sheer amount of work that his office does inside the city limits, he said, prompted him to go to the city for help.
"This isn't just a Jefferson County problem," he said. "This is a Jefferson County, Pine Bluff issue that I'm dealing with. The Police Department serves the city and the sheriff's office serves the county. I serve both. I'm not asking for an increase in salaries. I'm only asking for $10,000 to help me continue doing what I have to do."
Council Member Joni Alexander asked Kelley how long he has worked with the coroner's office. Kelley said he has been with the office for 21 years. He was elected coroner in 2008.
"In all of those years, has the city ever provided funds?" she asked.
"Never," Kelley said. "The city has never contributed anything, as far as financially, to the coroner's office."
"Has the city ever been asked before?" Trafford asked.
"It's my understanding that Havis Hester may have, but I was going on what the previous coroner told me," Kelley replied. "I haven't talked to him in person."
Hester was Jefferson County coroner for over 25 years from the 1970s until his retirement in 1998.
Council Member Ivan Whitfield told Kelley that, should the council approve his request, it would be for only one year.
"You'll have to come back to us next year if you need more," he said.
City Finance Director Steve Miller pointed out that once Saracen Casino Resort is completed in the middle of this year, revenue from gambling should begin flowing to the city and county shortly after.
"It could be a situation where the city could help him this year," Miller said. "Maybe in the future, because this has historically been a county function, they will have new revenues and be able to pick that up in the future."
Alexander strongly endorsed approval of Kelley's request.
"Yeah, county takes care of county and city takes care of city, but there comes a time when I do think we need to partner up and help one another," she said. "If revenues are going up next year, hopefully Chad won't ever have to come back and ask for any money, but we've never given them a dollar. I'm not saying it's our responsibility, but if they need help, I don't see $10,000 as being a number that's astronomical."
The committee unanimously approved a motion to send Kelley's request to the full council.
State Desk on 02/09/2020