The Drew County Quorum Court held its final meeting of 2023 on Monday, December 11. After an invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance, the roll was called and all of the Justices of the Peace were present except for Frank Appleberry who joined via conference call.
The first order of business was to add two items to the agenda. The first item was to have County Collector, Tonya Loveless present an item to the court. The second addition would be for Sanitation Committee Chairman, Ben Higginbotham to discuss potential changes to the landfill rates. Following these additions, the agenda and the minutes from last month’s meeting were approved.
County Treasurer, Charlie Searcy gave his report to the court. In a comparison between 2022 and 2023, the county overspent by $405,000 in County General for 2023 compared to $556,000 in 2022. Searcy stated that there is more than that in the account because he added back some of the courthouse repair costs to get a more accurate comparison of what the County General expenses are. He said that $215,862 is still owed on the courthouse repairs.
“Year to year, based on County General spending, we are a little better off this year than we were this time last year. A lot of that has to do with the collection of sales taxes,” Searcy said.
Searcy said that Fund 1803 had a balance of $1,758,000 in 2022, and for 2023 the balance is $1,964,000. These numbers show that sales tax collection is up around $10,000 per month. He added that this increase in tax collection is the sole reason the numbers are better for 2023. Searcy added that the quarter-cent sales tax account has a balance of $5.7 million and the General Excess fund currently has $1.2 million. There are also an additional $894,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds that haven’t been transferred to County General.
“We’ve had a pretty decent year, and most of that has to do with the increase in tax collection,” Searcy said.
Drew County Judge, Jessie Griffin took the floor next. He stated the work to repair and seal the courthouse basement is completed, and there should be no further issues with flooding. Judge Griffin also stated that after Christmas the county would be buying Christmas decorations once they go on sale so that the exterior of the courthouse can be more festive looking next year. He commended the employees for making the inside of the courthouse look nice but said that next year the exterior will also be decorated.
Judge Griffin also stated that three bridges are being repaired in the Wilmar area.
The county plans to put dumpsters out for the influx of Christmas trash. Judge Griffin said that he knows that people will abuse this, but it will be OK, and it will all work out. He tasked the Justices to determine which locations would be good dumpster locations in their area.
Griffin also said that the county will look into making an appropriation to work on the air conditioner system in the court building.
Hazelene McCray with the County Extension Office came to give an end-of-the-year update. She stated that the office had 13,147 total educational contacts. There were 1,972 volunteer hours from employees and EHC members which was valued at $59,061.40. The 4-H program was able to get grants from Weyerhauser which allowed them to get a lot of programming and allowed local kids to attend several camps over the summer. Participation at the fair livestock show was the largest in recent memory.
Scott Hayes, County Ag Agent, said he had 3,755 educational contacts. He made 242 visits to landowners. He also added that there are 33 active members of the Master Gardeners. Four more people have taken the online course so they will also be added to the ranks. They had 31 active projects this year and put in 850 volunteer hours from January to September.
Office of Emergency Management Director, Caleb Bryan stated that the county has five radio repeaters in different areas throughout the county. The repeater on the old fire tower going into Seven Devils will need to be replaced because the land where the tower sits has been sold and the new property owner is going to tear the tower down. Bryan said that this leaves two options, the first being to buy a new tower at a cost of roughly $30,000. The issue with this is that the tower will be cable-supported which will lead to cables being on other people's properties. The second option would be to purchase AWIN radios. He stated that this will have to happen eventually because the state of Arkansas is planning to transition to a new system that would require AWIN systems. This transition is proposed to happen within the next twelve months. The benefit of the AWIN system is that the radios get service in any area, in the entire state. The cost to upgrade the system to AWIN is estimated between $60,000-$80,000. This upgrade will benefit the Sheriff’s Department and the Collins and Cominto Fire Station. City services and other fire stations will still operate on their regular repeaters.
Sheriff Tim Nichols updated the court and said the repair to the roof of the detention center has been completed. There were no reports of leaks during the rain over the weekend.
County Collector, Tonya Loveless appeared before the court to discuss the costs associated with publishing all of the delinquent tax information in the newspaper, as required by Arkansas law. For 2023, the cost was $5,035, compared to $4,913 in 2022. She also discussed the possibility of adding the cost of postage to everyone’s tax bill to recoup the cost of sending out statements. Arkansas law allows citizens to be charged the cost of a stamp to offset costs. The cost to ship in 2023 was $5,532. Loveless said that it is up to the Quorum Court if they want to do this, and if they do she can set her billing software up to reflect it. It was proposed to hold off and revisit the matter in January.
Ben Higginbotham, Sanitation Committee Chairman, opened by saying that the subject of the landfill has been a hot topic as of late, especially when trying to figure out what rates are appropriate. Based on what the landfill received versus what is budgeted, there is a significant shortage of funds. $361,247.70 is the budgeted amount for 2024. This number doesn’t include a common laborer position that the county hopes to fill. It also doesn’t factor in the cost of living raise that is being implemented for all current employees. These two items bump the number up to nearly $390,000. It is estimated that the landfill will take in 6,000 tons by December 31. With current landfill rates, on 6,000 tons, when put against the 2024 budget, the deficit would be nearly $200,000. If the landfill rate were changed to $45 per ton, it would still leave a $150,000 shortage. For the landfill to break even, the rate would need to go to $71 per ton. An increase of this significance would more than likely lead to increased dumping in road ditches and timber access roads. This could also lead to commercial dumpsters being filled with trash and the people paying for them not even being able to use them. 90 percent of the trash being dumped in the landfill is commercial waste. The big debate is whether to charge a flat rate across the board or charge a higher rate for commercial trash than residential.
There is also a question of charging more for out-of-county trash. The problem that was brought up is how you prove where trash comes from, and how you regulate it.
There is consideration of raising the rate to $45 per ton. This will help offset some of the deficit but should be reasonable enough to keep people using the landfill. Higginbotham stressed that this number isn’t a recommendation, nor is it set in stone, it is just an idea. The plan is for the Sanitation Committee to have a solid recommendation at January’s meeting.
An appropriation ordinance to pass the 2024 budget was presented for approval. Judge Griffin said that there were some issues with the numbers on his part of the budget. There were obvious miscommunications between multiple parties. The court decided to pass the budget and revisit any issues at the January meeting.
An ordinance to clean up some payroll items was also presented. These items were things such as misconfigured expenses in the budget.
Another issue that was discussed was changing how the Road Department is given their vacation time. All employees of the county get their time on their hire date anniversary except the road department. They are given their time on January 1. It was recommended that they be allowed to continue this system for one more year, and starting in 2025 be put on the same system as all other employees. The court passed a verbal resolution authorizing this.
Judge Griffin said that there is a spay/neuter contract that the county has, and that 2nd Chancefurdogs would be given that contract starting January 1. 2nd Chance was also given $30,000 which had been donated to the shelter through tax collection. This was several years worth of collections.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned until 2024.
