Members of the Little Rock Board of Directors on Tuesday adopted the 2022 budget ordinance in advance of the holidays by meeting back-to-back the same evening in order to push the measure to a final reading.
At their regularly scheduled 6 p.m. meeting, city directors put off final approval of next year's budget after its second reading when a motion to advance the budget ordinance to a third and final reading failed. The vote was 3-7.
Mayor Frank Scott Jr. then indicated that they would hear a final reading of the budget in a meeting at noon today, but officials ended up going a different route.
For procedural reasons, in order to adopt the budget the same night, board members reconvened virtually -- with the exception of the mayor, who remained in the Centre at University Park along with other officials -- two hours later in a special meeting that began around 10 p.m.
The ordinance that the board approved sets general-fund revenue and spending at approximately $222 million. It will provide an across-the-board 2% raise to employees.
Under the original budget proposal presented in November, employees would have seen a 1.5% raise, but the figure was later adjusted upward.
Lieutenants and majors in the Police Department will each receive an additional 1% pay raise.
Many of the city's employees are already covered by the step-and-grade pay increases negotiated by local public-sector unions. However, for union and non-union employees, it represents the first across-the-board salary increase since 2017.
Although the general fund is balanced, the budget is expected to result in roughly $1.4 million in net income based on the income associated with the street, vehicle storage and parking garage funds.
The planned spending and revenue in the general fund next year represents an increase from the $210 million in the original budget adopted for this year.
However, when compared with an amended 2021 budget that was adopted in October, revenue and spending in 2022 would remain mostly flat. The amended budget this fall set general-fund revenue and expenses at roughly $224 million and $222 million, respectively.
Full-time personnel accounted for in the general fund will increase by 23 from the original 2021 budget for a total of 1,727.
They include an assistant city attorney and paralegal in the city attorney's office, an accounting clerk for Freedom of Information Act requests in the Finance Department and an assistant curator position at the Little Rock Zoo.
Two racial and cultural diversity jobs will be transferred to the Office of Executive Administration from the Department of Community Programs.
When accounting for positions that fall under other city funds, the budget will pay for 2,216 full-time positions, or an increase of 25.
Over 50% of all those employees work in the police and fire departments as well as the 911 division.
Last week, city officials suggested that they would try to call a special meeting to wrap up the board's end-of-year business sometime before Tuesday, but a date for that meeting never materialized, and the board met on its usual day.
At-large City Director Dean Kumpuris at the special meeting Tuesday evening moved to add two amendments to the budget, and they were approved, followed by the budget itself.
At the earlier meeting Tuesday, Kumpuris had said his amendments were not meant to change numbers in the budget, but to clarify policy.
As read by Kumpuris during the meeting, one amendment said the board reserved the right to review policy implications of any program, department or expense and to make appropriate modifications.
The second amendment, according to Kumpuris, said information provided from the Finance Department in response to a particular board member must be provided within seven days and must be furnished to all of the other people on the board.