A little extra money for County employees in time for the holidays was on the Drew County Quorum Court agenda Monday, Nov. 14, for the regularly scheduled meeting, along with an appropriation ordinance to levy county taxes for 2022, a bid for the renovation of the Drew County Courthouse HVAC and discussion of the Drew County run-off election for Drew County Sheriff.
The stipend for County employees was approved for current, full-time employees, with a year or more of employment, to receive $750 and currently employed part-time employees, with at least a year of service under their belt, to receive $250. All employees with less than a year of service will receive a pro-rated amount based on their length of current employment with the County. With Drew County Judge Robert Akin stating to the court he believes in taking care of your employees and this is one way to do that.
With the County preparing for the run-off election for Drew County Sheriff between Tim Nichols and James Slaughter, County Clerk Nancy White announced the dates and times for early voting as Tuesday, Nov. 29 through Friday, Dec. 2 and Monday, Dec. 5 in the Drew County Courthouse Club Room from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with the election being held on Tuesday, Dec. 6, with all polling locations open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Justice of the Peace Usry reminded absentee voters to make sure they were filling out the ballots correctly and signing them, stating that during a Republican Party meeting it was announced absentee ballots not filled out correctly or signed are not able to be counted.
An appropriation ordinance was also approved to levy taxes for 2022. The taxes levied are as follows for all real and all personal property:
County General: 1.8 mills
County Road: 1.1 mills
County Library: 1 mill
County Hospital (Bond): 1.8 mills
Monticello City Tax: 2.2 mills
Tillar City Tax: 1.6 mills
Wilmar City Tax: 1.7 mills
Winchester City Tax: 1.5 mills
School District Tax for all real and personal property:
District 51 Hamburg: 39.5 mills
District 5 Drew Central: 39.9 mills
District 6 Dumas: 42 mills
District 17 McGehee Special: 40.46 mills
District 18 Monticello: 39.9 mills
District 22 Dermott Special: 41.81 mills
Improvement district taxes for 2022 on real property:
Canal Number 1 Drainage District: .75 percent of the assessed value upon all acreage, town lots and right of ways within the district for maintenance and operation
Chicot-Desha and Drew Watershed District: 65 cents per rural acre and $5 per city or town lot
Dermott Drainage District: 40 cents per rural acre or $5 per city or town lot
Voluntary Animal Tax for 2022 per statement less escrows: $10
Also on the agenda was the bid for the HVAC renovation for the courthouse. The County received one bid in the amount of $1,896,950. The court decided to bring the appropriations ordinance to the December meeting in order to get the work started. The contractor Curtis Stout Inc. out of Little Rock gave a completion date of April 28, 2023 in the bid.
